I'm pulling the same number of releases this week as last, with eighteen total books. I'm happy to say I'm trying out five new indie titles, to go along with five from DC, two other indies, three for the X of Swords event, and two other Marvel comics. All in all, a hefty week, but a very exciting one.
Since there are three Marvel comics that fit in to the X of Swords X-Men event, I've made them their own section so the discussions can all be together, in reading order of the issues. Hopefully this will make following along with the event a bit easier, or as I said last week, you can always pick up the collected edition towards the end of January, 2021. The five new indie titles are all experimental, coming from Dynamite, Aftershock, Vault, Oni Press, and Dark Horse Comics. The only one with a creative team I'm familiar with is Gerard Way's Killjoys original series follow-up, National Anthem. Out of the rest, I definitely imagine a few of them sticking around. Due to life complications, I'm only doing one spotlight this week, on female comic artist Carmen Carnero! She's made quite the name for her in the past few years, and I'm excited to tell you more! Continue Reading for all the best info on comic coming out this week!
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Spotlight on Women in Comics: Marvel's Carmen Carnero
My first encounter with the art of Carmen Carnero was during her stint last year on Captain Marvel with Kelly Thompson. The two made an excellent team, and Carnero did a good number of the series' issues. She even co-created the character Star with Thompson, and did the main art of her Captain Marvel spinoff story by the same name. Around the time that Star started as a series, Carnero signed on to an exclusive Marvel artist contract, meaning she only does art for Marvel, period. Which works out pretty well for her, it looks like. Carnero was one of only six women on the 37-person team that re-drew the legendary Giant-Size X-Men #1 a few weeks ago, and her page was one of my personal favorites. Currently, she is the main artist on the Miles Morales: Spider-Man series, and gives amazing life and spirit to the art of Miles' world. Coming up this week, Carnero is the guest artist on Hellions #5, chapter six of X of Swords. She will also be handling the art of the sixth Hellions issue, further along in the event. One of my favorite places to have seen Carnero's art was Captain Marvel: The End. While she had just left the main interiors of the regular Captain Marvel series, Thompson called her in for this one-shot as a "good-bye," and it worked out beautifully. Also coming up this week in Captain Marvel is a story arc that takes Carol back to that same world of Captain Marvel: The End, and I'm interested to see how the art compares to Carnero's original vision. Only just recently, Carnero was announced as part of Marvel's 2020 Stormbreakers Artist program! One of three women out of the eight artists in the program (eye roll, sexism much, again?), alongside Peach Momoko and Natacha Bustos. While the Stormbreakers program doesn't seem like much beyond a title and a very brief spotlight on the Marvel website, its far worth mentioning that Carnero made her mark by earning a slot. Carnero's work outside of Marvel is limited, due to the recent exclusivity contract, but she has worked on projects such as DC Bombshells, Detective Comics, and a number of anthology DC issues. Whatever Carmen Carnero has planned in her future in comics, you can be sure I'll be following along, proudly supporting another rightfully successful woman in comics.
X of Swords:
Hellions #5
Hellions is the first of the week’s X of Swords tie-ins, following last week’s Marauders. Marauders followed Storm on her quest to get her sword for the Otherworld tournament, called Skybreaker, from Wakanda. It seemed pretty firm that Storm completed her pre-battle scenes, so we’ll be on to another character’s sword quest in this issue. Thing is, I’m not sure who this issue will be following. X-Force followed Wolverine, which made sense because he is a m ember of that team. However, as far as I know, none of the Hellions team members are one of the ten chosen for the tournament. With this in mind, and an attempt at translating the cryptic solicitation, I think the Hellions team will be going on a secret mission in this issue. They primarily go on covert missions, and are more or less under the thumb of financier Mister Sinister. If this is going to be a mission from Sinister, I’m at a total loss of what he could be sending them off to do. I don’t think there’s very. Much cross-over between Sinister and anything related to Apocalypse and Krakoa, so whatever happens in this issue is sure to be a surprise.
New Mutants #13
New Mutants is the second of this week’s X of Swords tie-ins, but to be honest, I’m not sure what’s going to happen. And that is even after I read a two-page preview of the issue, text included. The preview has Warlock speaking with Doug Ramsey before bonding to one another again, agreeing that Warlock will be Doug’s sword for the Otherworld tournament. As they leave the scene, Magik steps in their way. The cover features Magik chasing Douglock with her sword, looking pretty pissed off. She has a habit of possibly overreacting to mild betrayal, plus she comes of as a bit harsh a lot of the time. She can’t help it, she spent eight years in Limbo. But, comics are also known for misleading readers on the cover of an issue, so who really knows what will actually happen, just that it will include the three of them primarily. I’m all for it, honestly, because I love Illyana Rasputin, so give me all the ‘Yana!
Cable #5
The Cable cryptic solicitation is a lot easier to translate than the other two X of Swords books. Cable is one of the ten chosen sword wielders, and he must be going on his personal journey to prep for the fight. As far as I can remember, when we last saw the young Cable, he was with his “parents,” Cyclops and Jean Grey, powering up a S.W.O.R.D. spaceship. They planted a gate on the station, so we’ll no doubt be going back to space in this issue. The station was powered up by Cable’s Space Knight sword, and I’m not sure where it ended up. This issue will no doubt shed some light on Cable and his sword, and get him set up for his big battle in the Otherworld tournament. Phil Noto being on art has been an absolute gift to this series, and as his shady watercolors give the whole book the look of another world, another reality. Which, for the mutants of Krakoa, is supremely fitting. I look forward to seeing Noto on more Cable issues going forward, hopefully!
The Vain #1
The first of a number of indie #1’s I’m reading this week, The Vain is a try-out, so I knelt won’t be writing too much for all of them. The story is supposed to follow vampires in the 1940’s-era of Hollywood, which is enough for me to be interested in the plot. I’m not usually a very big fan of comics “period pieces,” but the twist of blood-suckers is too fun to pass up.
The Devil's Red Bride #1
As the last of the three new indie #1’s from this week, The Devil’s Red Bride might be my favorite idea of the group. The story is supposed to follow the daughter of a once-great warrior, who picks up the blade to fight for her family and country. Alright, its a lot like Mulan, but what can I say—I’m a sucker for stories of women doing things they’re often told women can’t do.
We Live #1
We Live is another indie #1 I’ll be trying out this week. Written by a pair of brothers, history follows a young boy and his older sister, after Earth has been made ultimately unlivable. The boy has been picked as one of the few chosen children who will be taken aboard an arc to find somewhere else to build humanity. But first, his older sister has to make sure he can get to one of the pick-up sites for the chosen ones. I expect this to be a fairly simple story of family and hardship, and I imagine its a limited series.
The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem #1
As far as I can tell, this series is actually a prequel to the first Killjoys series, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. That six-issue mini followed the character seen in My Chemical Romance music videos, completing her story. If this is your first time with the universe of the Killjoys, here's what you need to know. In 2010, My Chemical Romance came out with their first album since the uber-popular "emo" concept album, The Black Parade. The new album, Danger Days: the True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, was also a concept album, but was almost a total 180 in visual design. You may notice that the name of the album and this series of comics are the same. MCR band front-man Gerard Way is also a comic writer and artist, having been involved in the industry as far backs as 1994, and working for DC comics for some time in his early 20's. He created the Umbrella Academy in the mid-2000's, which saw immediate success, and has since been turned into a Netflix TV show. The Danger Days album is wrapped around the concept Way came up with for this comic series, and was really the first form the comic world came in. The music videos for the album told the story of the Killjoys and the young girl they saved, who is the only survivor of the group at the end of the last video. While the first comic series followed the girl on her journey after that point, National Anthem will tell the story of the Killjoys before their death. Becky Cloonan, who did the art on the first Killjoys series, is not back to do interior art, but is doing variant covers for National Anthem, which I will definitely be keeping an eye out for!
Rorschach #1
With Tom King's Rorschach premiering this week, I had an exciting epiphany--This December will be the first month (ever, as far as I know) with THREE Tom King maxi-series' coming out at the same time! Strange Adventures will be on issue #8 of 12, Rorschach will be on #3 of 12, and the first of 12 Batman/Catwoman issues will start in December, as well. What a thrilling time to be a fan of Tom King's writing! If you've never read anything by him, I suggest starting with Vision at Marvel, then if you liked that, try Mister Miracle from DC, and then Heroes in Crisis, also at DC. I'd direct Batman fans to his Batman Annual #2 "Date Nights/Last Rites", and the arc "Rooftops." Getting back on track, Rorschach is going to be a traditional 12-issue maxi series. The story picks up 35-years after the events of Watchmen, the comic, which puts it square in the timeline of the Watchmen HBO TV series. Whether or not it will be connected to the events of the TV series or not, I'm not entirely sure, but I do doubt it. I recently listened to a Tom King podcast that went a little long (about 3 hours!), and he talked a lot about this quite a bit. Apparently, as well as taking place in the same universe as the original Watchmen story, this will change the idea of what Rorschach is all about. In layman's terms, while the original Rorschach was based on the idea of black and white justice, this version will see justice with a lot more gray area of what is right and wrong. I can't say I'm a really big fan of the original Rorschach character, but I do love the Watchmen universe, Tom King's writing, and the art of Jorge Fornes, so this should definitely be a series worth checking out.
Die!namite #1
This issue marks Dynamite publishing as jumping on the hype train for a new trend in comics: universal slaughter series'. The first was Marvel, with their Marvel Zombies trend that started in the early 2000's. Last year, DC came out with their own universe-ending series: DCeased, by Tom Taylor. DCeased is already on it's third mini-series continuing the story, plus there was a one-shot tucked in there, as well. Almost exactly coinciding is Marvel's umpteenth edition of a Marvel Zombies reboot-- Marvel Zombies: Resurrection. Now, Dynamite tries their hand at a universe ending series, choosing to go the DC route of a pun in the name: Die!namite. Very fun, guys, moving along. I'm not sure what to expect from this series, to be honest. I can't say I'm super familiar with Dynamite properties aside from what there is in the Red Sonja and Vampirella universes. In fact, in reading the solicitations for the three issues between now and December, it seems the be ONLY involving the Red Sonja and Vampirella universes. Which is fine, I like the characters, and the first two issues are written by Declan Shelvey, a well-received artist as well as writer. I'm not sure if Die!namite will be more than three issues, but it'll hopefully be a fun little mini to read.
Marvel Zombies: Resurrection #3
This new iteration of the Marvel Zombies tradition is turning out to be pretty fun, if more of a mystery than the other, more action packed universe killing series’ like DCeased and Die!namite. The story is interesting enough to keep me coming back, following primarily Peter Parker. In the story, he and the Storm-Richards children are going to search for the Galactus hive of zombies, which first infected New York en-masse. That was where the kids saw their parents last, an incident Peter keeps recalling in his dreams. It’s been ten years since that moment, and there seems to be little to no hope for the team going forward. Franklin is a mystery, though, as he hasn’t aged a day since that encounter with their parents as zombies. He also doesn’t have use of his powers, for some reason, and I have a feeling it’ll tie into the story more going forward.
Dark Nights: Death Metal #4
At last, an actual issue of Death Metal! It seems that all the "tie-in" issues they've been putting out instead of this really are just that--replacements for main event issues. You still need to keep up with them to understand the story, so they might as well be considered integral parts of the main event. I've been having a decent enough time with the Death Metal event, since I'm usually a fan of balls-to-the-walls crazy comic storylines. My main critique of this series is that it was marketed falsely by the creative team themselves, calling this a Wonder Woman based story. Aside from her killing the Batman Who Laughs (unsuccessfully), Diana hasn't had much of a role in this series, and its been mainly focused on Batman, again. But with some recent teases (particularly a cover by Artgerm) of Kull—otherworld daughter of Bruce and Diana—I’m hoping we’ll see more women in the main plot further along.
Strange Adventures #6
Tom King’s Strange Adventures comes as the second series by the writer this week, alongside Rorschach’s #1. Strange Adventures features two artist, Mitch Gerads and Evan “Doc” Shaner, to tell the two varying sides of the story. I’ve already written a lot about why this series rocks so much, so I’ll try not to repeat myself. This is one of my absolute top current comics, from any publisher. It tells the story of Adam Strange being investigated by Mister Terrific on incidents leading up to, during, and after a fairly recent war on the planet Rann, where Strange’s wife comes from, and where he is eternally linked. In The Gerads pages, we see the current goings-on, from the points of view of Terrific and Mrs Strange, for the most part. In Doc Shaner’s pages, we see the past, from an untrustworthy point of view, and what might have happened with the war on Rann. The story is spicing up now, and my theory still stands that Adam’s wife is the true main instigator of the story. King touches on topics like politics in pop culture, heroes in politics, and the idea of fear monger it as a political tactic to get the public on your side. I definitely recommend Strange Adventures to the patient reader to likes a good mystery to unravel slowly before them, in many moving pieces.
Once & Future #12
Once & Future is another property from Kieron Gillen, writer of award winning comics like The Wicked and the Divine, Ludocrats, and the upcoming Eternals series for Marvel. Gillen is a proven idea-creator, and Once and Future is a testament not only of his own writing, but being able to work on a variety of teams to fit each new series. Once and Future has been dealing with the character of Beowulf, who this story’s protagonists treated as a villain and killed. Unfortunately, now there is the legendary enemy of Beowulf, who only he can kill. The legendary myths that Gillen pulls from is backed up nicely by the pleasant English backdrop, complete with a rough old Granny and her Professor of literature grandson. The setting is too perfect for the subject matter at hand, and Gillen continues to prove himself as a literary brainiac (genius is a strong word).
Vampirella #14
This marks the start of a new story arc for Vampirella, after Seduction of the Innocent ended during the last issue. Actually, the last issue was a fun add-on to the extra-sized first arc, showing Vampi’s mother Lilith really just messing with her daughter’s therapist, for shits and giggles. I’m not sure what to expect from the new arc, but I recently decided to stop reading the spin-off series, Sacred Six, so it hopefully won’t tie into that too much. With Christopher Priest writing, anything can happen for the future of Vampirella.
Captain Marvel #22
Here we come to a new era of Captain Marvel! Comics love calling new story arcs the next big thing for any particular character, so I don’t actually expect this arc to be life-changing for myself. I do, however, think that it will be a big deal for Carol Danvers and her future. Because this new arc will take place in the future, the one we saw during Captain Marvel: The End some time ago. There, an aging Carol returned to a dying Earth and helped her surviving friends and their many children save the world. This Captain Marvel arc is supposed to be working off of that set of characters, sending Carol to see them in the future this time. If I had to make an educated guess, the issue will probably not cover much more beyond the events getting Carol sent to the future, and it will be issue #23 that really shows the brave new world she gets sent to.
Justice League Odyssey #25
Unfortunately, this is the final issue of Justice League Odyssey. My main loss at the series ending is that Odyssey was the only place to read Jessica Cruz, Green Lantern. She's popped up on some sneak peaks for future Death Metal issues, so maybe we'll finally get to see some more of her . This issue, being the wrap-up, will show the JLO team fighting Darkseid, and trying to stop him from resetting the universe in his image. While it wouldn't be the worst option, no one WANTS to be a slave to Apokalips. Now, Azrael, Starfire, and Blackfire are joined by two Cyborgs and two Jessica's, as they gather up to fight the final battle.
Avengers #37
At last, the Age of Khonshu arc is ending. I love getting involved in learning and exploring Ancient Egyptian mythology and history, but this has been a bit of a drag. Fortunately, now we’re headed into what's bound to be a more interesting arc, surround the Phoenix Force. Creators from the Avengers team tweeted pictures of the outfits designed for the Avengers as bearers of the Phoenix Force, or at least chunks of it. I imagine this will go something like the Phoenix Force team during/after Avengers VS X-Men, when the Phoenix was held across Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik, and Namor. In fact, it seems to similar to that team, that the new Avengers Phoenix costumes even look uncannily like those the X-Men wore. Similarities in outfits aside, I’m hoping the Phoenix affects the Avengers in the same way as the previous Phoenix team— making them not only stronger, but in time, driving them a little crazy with the power, until they are so full of themselves they must give it up for their own good.
Wonder Woman #764
I was originally planning on writing a review of the first arc of Mariko Tamaki’s Wonder Woman after issue #763, but looking ahead to further solicitations, the apparent storyline called “Saga of Lords” will wrap up with #769. So, with that information in mind, I will wait until December to speak on what I think of the run as a whole. Generally, I really like it. The rotating artists is annoying, but the chaotic neutral art of the last few issues has finally moved on, and we get a new artist again this week. This week’s issue has Diana on better terms with Malcolm Lord, after the last few issues had him having to defend her from his own daughter. The new villain Liar Liar blames Diana for the rift between herself and her father, since during the first Metal event, she had a glimpse into all realities, and saw the erased past of Jana breaking Lord’s neck. While I feel like this is a lame reason to become a series killer, Liar Liar is the part of this Wonder Woman run that I feel has been forced by DC to bring in a new audience, like Batman’s Punchline and Clownhunter. More than anything, I’m looking forward to 2021’s fresh start with Tamaki’s Wonder Woman.
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