Darth Vader #16 Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Salvador Larocca Colors by Edgar Delgado Letters by Joe Caramanga Published by Marvel Comics Like the annuals of yesteryears, Darth Vader Annual #1 was seemingly a one-off story, self-contained and never to be revisited again. But it stood as arguably the best issue of the series’ first years, so the fact …
The second arc of Invincible Iron Man kicks off, and Bendis has switched gears to deliver not a shiny, crystal clear, Dave Marquez drawn adventure of magic and exorcism, but a technology based gripping noir mystery that will only take Iron Man and company into a different genre’s territory with exciting results.
When all is said and done, Bendis, Pichelli, and Ponsor have ushered in another fantastic entry in Miles Morales’ stint as Spider-Man with Spider-Man #1. With a new universe to explore, joining the Avengers, and having the blessing of the label as THE Friendly Neighborhood Spidey, the future for both Miles and this title has never looked better.
Obi-Wan and Anakin #2 Written by Charles Soule Art by Marco Checchetto Colors by Andres Mossa Letters by Joe Caramanga Published by marvel Comics The arbitrary binary is a common trope in science-fiction. Two peoples have hated one another for so long that they have forgotten what caused their discord in the first place. All that remains are arbitrary distinctions, usually …
When it comes to the topic of Gwen Stacy’s re-emergence, it’s imperative to ask the following question: “Why does she have to come back?”. Her death was iconic and radically changed the face of the Spider-Man mythos. In short, her death mattered.
Old Man Logan #1 is the extremely dark mirror to the “Days of Future Past” storyline as Wolverine doesn’t sheathe his claws and abandon violence to bring hope to mutants and the world, but decides to take revenge on the people responsible for destroying his family
With the road to “Avengers Standoff” looming over the next few months, Sam Wilson: Captain America continues to forge its own path and make the most out of the new age, new look Captain America.
Captain Marvel #1 is an enjoyable story of a character having to adapt to a new situation in space with Canadian superheroes.
Altogether, Uncanny Inhumans #4 stands out among the wave of recently added Inhuman titles, and expectations should be nothing but high for the royal family’s flagship title.
Starbrand and Nightmask #2 fits the niche of being a slice-of-life comic with superhero undertones to great effect. Lowering two of the strongest Marvel Heroes to such a relatable level is an achievement, and let’s hope the good times can continue for Kevin and Adam.
Hellcat #2 is cute, funny, painfully relatable, and even sets up possibly the raddest superhero team-up ever in the next issue.
With this issue, the “Vader Down” crossover concludes mostly the same as it began and then unfolded: with a series of fun moments in service of an incremental, mostly-incidental plot.
Spider-Man/Deadpool #1 is filled with jokes, sexual tension, gross out gags, and slightly self-aware supervillains galore all from the wacky mind palace of Deadpool legend (and basically daddy) Joe Kelly. Ed McGuinness and Mark Morales’ art is slick with a side of disgusting and helps the story move on at a bouncy pace. There may be an overreliance on bathroom humor due to this issue’s villain, but there’s also jokes about Uber’s labor practices and some great puns for folks whose eyebrows are glued on higher than the rest of us. Early on, there seems to be a gap between the Hydro Man battle and Deadpool accidentally teleporting him and Dormammu to Hell, but by the final page all his revealed along with the series’ hook. It’s another Deadpool redemption story, but this time with Spider-Man as his goofy guardian angel. But his path isn’t as simple as that last sentence. (Deadpool does have a handy morality choosing gadget that is McGuinness’ best visual funny.)
The creative team for Ultimates definitely works in unison. While Ewing gives us the character beats and the story that will keep us coming back, Rocafort and Brown continue to assault our eyeballs with all manner of splash pages, colors, and inter-dimensional transport stars that are greeted by many styles of alien remains and a purple dragon to greet them. The Ultimates #3 proves that a team of past B and C list Heroes can be the next great thing in the right hands.
Overall, Invincible Iron Man, which is the flagship Marvel title, has concluded its first arc with definite promises of change for several characters and that will almost likely include pushing Iron Man and Tony to their limits especially since seeds are being planted for Civil War II during the next arc!
Like most of the “Vader Down” crossover, Star Wars #14 is filled with plenty of epic moments, like BT taking out a squad of stormtroopers with a flamethrower, every time Darth Vader gets a line, or the fact that R2D2 has some kind of poison antidote needle in his chassis. And Jason Aaron makes these moments cohere into some kind of a whole with the shared Obi Wan Force Ghost voice for Luke and Vader. (For all of its fun, the Han and Chewbacca vs. Krrsantan plot is just filler in the larger scheme of things.) Add slightly improved art from Deodato and Martin, and the “Vader Down” finale can’t come soon enough. (It comes out today as well and will be quite the family affair.)
Obi Wan and Anakin #1 boasts some beautiful setting work and planet designs from Marco Checchetto although his faces are inconsistent, especially with Anakin and another padawan, who looks like a more cartoonish version of Mace Windu. Charles Soule gives his lead character distinct voices and a tense kind of camaraderie as they leap and explore this supposed abandoned planet. However, his plot runs out of steam in the last third of the book, which seems like the first few minutes of an away mission in Star Trek. So despite its interesting conversations about ethics and politics, Obi Wan and Anakin #1 ends being a bit of a mixed bag as far as plot and art and definitely has room for improvement.
Hellcat #1 has a diverse cast of characters (Fitting for a Brooklyn set comic.), freely flowing art from Brittney Williams , and has a lot of engaging, real life situations plotted by Kate Leth for readers to latch onto. It’s about an unemployed ex-superhero/PI/subject of romance comics and her gay roommate, who just learned about his powers and might not have the greatest moral compass, hanging out and figuring out how to get their shit together. It’s definitely the most exciting debut issue of All-New, All-Different Marvel thus far.
Marvel’s Star Wars comic, featuring the continuing adventures of Luke, Han, Leia, etc. in the time following A New Hope and before The Empire Strikes Back, is clearly positioned as the flagship series of the company’s line of Star Wars ongoing, limited and one shot series. Yet for all the top-notch artists that have worked on the series and exciting moments that have unfolded in its pages, it has consistently played second fiddle in terms of pure quality to its sister series, Darth Vader. Comic books starring super-villains are routinely difficult to pull off, but in the fourteen issues released in 2015, Darth Vader has stood head and shoulders above the rest of the line. Here, then, are five reasons it is the best of Marvel’s Star Wars books.
Two words could be used to describe comics in 2015: scandal and rebirth. The scandals happened off the pages at both companies large and small, and the rebirth happened in the comics themselves.
Being at a college is a stepping stone for Kevin, and while his power isn’t downplayed by any means because of the more grounded threat it’s nice to see both himself and Adam combat each new situation differently. (Fun fact: They’re in dorms that are co-ed!) We see the supporting cast begin to take shape and it definitely holds to the statement you’ll meet all types of people in college. You can feel the type of stories the entire team can tell with both cosmic and realistic threats. Starbrand and Nightmask can hold its own as its own thing, but even with the guest stars you can feel the strings of connections to the wider Marvel Universe. It’ll be interesting going forward to see how the two heroes can combat both classes and villains all over campus in this new series.
Across nearly four decades and two publishing companies, the Star Wars comic book universe has seen thousands of issues chronicling tales set in a galaxy, far, far away. Following Disney’s acquisition of LucasFilm, fellow subsidiary company Marvel reclaimed the license to publish new Star Wars comics in 2015. Along with it, they received publishing rights to all prior Star Wars comics, including those released by Dark Horse when it held the license (from the early 90s up to 2015). Now, thanks to Marvel’s digital subscription service, Marvel Unlimited, the vast majority (though not yet all) of these comics are available for subscribers of the service to read in one convenient place.
Star Wars Annual #1 takes the latter approach, showcasing the fight against the Empire in a completely different way, sidelining all of the regular characters (except Leia, who only appears via holographic communication) and plotlines but keeping with the overall tone of the series. The end result is a fun, somewhat slight, story that deepens the Star Wars comic book universe.