Hello friends and readers, it’s a packed week here at Marvel Files as Christi Eddleman leads up on the Road to Empyre, the clockwork-like Tony Thornley swings into The Amazing Spider-Man, the big boss Zack Jenkins takes a look back in Marvel Snapshots: Fantastic Four, and Rob Secundus delves into the specifics of Immortal Hulk!
Road to Empyre: The Kree/Skrull War #1
Recapping a half-century of comics history related to the Kree/Skrull conflict is no small task, but Robbie Thompson rises to the occasion in Road to Empyre. This issue deftly interweaves Mattia De lulis’ present-day art with flashback sequences by Javier Rodriguez and Alvaro Lopez [Ed. Note: Beautiful full page spreads, in fact]. The contrasting style of present and past art were well done, with the flashbacks capturing the style of the stories they recap.
Lettere Joe Caramagna has done an excellent job ensuring the flashbacks are not overwhelmed with text, allowing Rodriguez and Alvaro’s stunning art to shine through. What could have been clunky Thompson instead has given the feel of Skrull folklore, told naturally from mother to daughters.
The present day sequence connects each flashback smoothly and is compelling enough to keep readers engaged. The generational struggle between traditional Skrull ideology and a yearning for peace brings a relatable interpersonal struggle that we will likely see echoed throughout Empyre.
For those looking for a more robust version of events relevant to Empyre, the issue contains a recommended reading list. However, Road to Empyre is your “previously on…” recap that reads nicely and is visually stunning.
Christi Eddleman is the world’s first Captain Kate Pryde cosplayer and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.
The Amazing Spider-Man #42
The last thing I expected after last issue’s MacGuffin reveal, the last thing I expected was Nick Spencer pulling an Old Yeller on us.
Gog is an old school silver age villain, first showing up in Amazing Spider-Man #103. In that first appearance, he was under the control of Kraven as the Hunter was scheming in the Savage Lang. Ever since then he’s popped up as Spider-Man’s personal kaiju adversary. His most notable appearance was likely during Erik Larsen’s most famous Spidey story- Revenge of the Sinister Six- where the creature had grown from 30 feet to nearly 300.
So on the back of last issue’s revelation that the Lifeline Tablet was back on Earth and Gog was guarding it, Nick Spencer proceeds to give us one of the most unnecessary origins in comics history. Gog is one of those characters that works better the less that we know about him. He’s easily manipulated giant monster muscle.
But he had to go and ruin that in an emotionally manipulative issue-long backstory reveal. Gog used to be a pet from a far-off planet torn apart by war. He was rocketed away, lived the life we’ve seen in the comics he’s appeared in, and then returned home for… well, a reverse Old Yeller, where Timmy is actually an intergalactic prince who’s the one who gets blown up instead of Yeller (I may have never seen Old Yeller).
It’s not a terrible story. But it’s clearly emotionally manipulative, trying to get us to empathize with the giant monster. If nothing from this issue comes back as a plot point in this arc, there will no point to it either.
It was fun to read it since I’d completely forgotten Gog exists. So hey, there’s that.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
Marvels Snapshots: Fantastic Four #1
At the end of his days, the crowning achievement of Kurt Busiek’s writing career will be Astro City. It’s a long spanning superhero universe that is more interested in the accountants, bus drivers, and bartenders of the world than the folks in capes. It’s an approach he developed with Alex Ross in Marvels back in 1994, and something he’s perfected over the last twenty-five years. Now, things are coming full-circle as both Ross and Busiek are curating anthology series playing off the Marvels brand [Ed. Note: We are the Astro City now].
For Marvels Snapshots: Fantastic Four #1, Kurt has recruited Evan Dorkin & Sarah Dyer along with artist Benjamin Dewey to tell a tale about Glenville, the hometown of the Storms. If you’ve read Astro City, you know what to expect. There isn’t a big monster to break up this high school reunion, it’s not an action comic. Instead, the team pulls back the camera, leaving Johnny Storm in the background. It’s a story about the people of Glenville. The old classmates of Johnny’s, their wives and husbands from out of town, the reporters going deep for a puff piece. They take a look, not at superheros, but at the world’s reaction to them.
The strength of Marvel as a company is their IP. These are world class characters that require no introduction. Reader’s have been with the Human Torch since 1961, no set-up required. Conversely, the weakness of Astro City has been that it deals in archetypes, not characters. The Samaritan is Superman with the serial numbers filed off. Dorkin & Dyer use this continuity to their advantage, they don’t have to build a world. It feels lived in because the characters and the readers and the readers parents have all been part of this collective myth.
This is not a groundbreaking comic. It’s not going to change the way we think about books, or morality, or any notions about art. It frankly pulls the same trick Busiek has been pulling for most of his career. But much like the Marvel characters themself, there is a comfort in familiarity. There is a warmth to seeing grandma bake the same apple pie she has been baking since the ‘60s. This is a comfort food comic, exquisitely executed, filled with moments that will warm the heart. Who needs much more than that?
Zachary Jenkins runs the Xavier Files Media Empire and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of X-Men.
Immortal Hulk #33
Times Immortal is on hiatus while our good Professor Rabiroff, chair of Obscure Continuity Studies at Xavier Files University, is on sabbatical. Until we resume, I’m just going to pop on to Marvel Minutiae and offer a small thought that might help you enjoy the issue.
So.
Feuerbach. The quote from this issue is taken from Feuerbach’s most famous work, The Essence of Christianity. The central idea (as I understand it; it isn’t really my sort of book) is that religions don’t really talk about God when they talk theology; what they describe isn’t an omnipotent Creator. Whenever we talk about God, we’re really talking about us. We make God in our image. He’s typically summed up as arguing that “theology” is really just “anthropology.”
So.
As you read this issue, filled with psychescapes and monsters, billionaires and minotaurs, evil men and their victims, aliens and the damned, maybe think about Feuerbach’s argument and its necessary shadow. Consider the occult. Consider demonology. Consider just who it is we talk about when we talk about the devil.
Then maybe take a break from your reading. Put the comics down. Go freshen up. It’s important right now to wash your hands. Do a good job. Count to 20.
And then look in the mirror.
Do not look away.
[Ed. Note: The editor would like to remind you that this is also a fantastic comic that you should pick up. But come on, were you not already? This one’s got Green Scar in it and Al Ewing crushes it as usual. Bennett does wonderfully rendered and grotesque art for the real world, while guest artist Nick Pitarra makes the internal Hulks look even more “larger than life” than usual with his chunky style. It’s more of that good Hulk that you crave.]
Robert Secundus is an amateur-angelologist-for-hire.
Christi Eddleman is the world’s first Captain Kate Pryde cosplayer and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
Robert Secundus is an amateur-angelologist-for-hire.
