Hello friends and readers, we have actual physical books to cover for you this week, so in celebration, we decided to do all of them! Zack Jenkins digs into Avengers #33 by Aaron and Garron, while Liz Large dusts off the new #1 of Star Wars: Doctor Aphra by Wong and Cresta. Finally, it’s time for our favorite webheads as Spider Correspondent Tony Thornley brings us the Amazing Spider-Man coverage you need with Spencer and Ottley’s #43. Finally, Vishal Gullapalli gives us his thoughts on Venom #25 by Cates and Bagley. Enjoy!
Avengers #33
Moon Knight has an identity problem [Ed. Note: Kind of a central tennant there]. Is he Moench’s penitent detective, Hudson’s disturbed vigilante, Ellis’ smooth protector, or Lemire’s cerebral champion? In Avengers #33 Jason Aaron and Javier Garrón try a new take as the hero takes center stage in their “The Age Of Knoshu” arc. Unfortunately, it’s one that feels wholly removed from anything the character has done this century.
Konshu, the Egyption god of the moon, conscripts his servant Moon Knight to gain the powers of The Iron Fist, The Sorcerer Supreme, The Ghost Rider, The Black Panther, The Phoenix, The Starbrand, and Thor to fight the Devil. This comic follows Moon Knight as he systematically bests many of these heroes with an army of mummies, ill-defined moon powers, essence absorbing Ankh’s, and Knoshu-worshiping cultists. It’s an idea made to fit Aaron’s kitchy ideas of themed teams and obsession with these uber-powerful forces, not one made to service the character. By the time street level brawler Moon Knight is literally throwing moons at the God of Thunder using the might he stole from Doctor Strange, readers are forced to confront the fact that this Moon Knight story feels like anything but.
For his part, Javier Garrón does some stunning pages. Action is well framed and clear even in chaotic group shots. His clean, detailed, and stylistic lines are exactly what a book like Avengers — unfortunately, Aaron’s script doesn’t spend enough time in one place for Garrón to establish any settings or ground any atmosphere.
The trade dress for “The Age Of Knoshu” uses the font Papyrus. The same amount of effort was used for the graphic design as was used to plot this comic. A massive disappointment for fans of Moon Knight and The Avengers both.
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.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #1
While we’ve gotten plenty of Star Wars comics with stories about the movie and tv characters, the Doctor Aphra series was the first book to focus on a character who started off in the comics. There were always plenty of tie-ins to the larger universe, but Aphra was more than enough to stand on her own—with her delightful supporting cast of friends, enemies, and complications, of course. The new series, written by Alyssa Wong with art by Marika Cresta and colors by Rachelle Rosenberg, is already shaping up to be another excellent journey.
The story picks up shortly after the last series let off— Aphra’s pissed off Darth Vader, and is having some tough luck on the job front. While the opening job is a success (for some definitions of the word), she’s dealing with multiple layers of double crosses right off the bat [Ed. Note: Doubles cross, if you will]. Ultimately, Aphra and her team (currently Black Krrsantan, who we know from the previous series, and Just Lucky, who is a new face) escape with some finds they can sell to the Shadow University for credits.
While there, Aphra is approached by Detta Yao, a grad student who wants to find some artifacts called the Rings of Vaale—but can’t get the university to sign off on an expedition because the rings are 1) mythical and 2) cursed. Valuable archaeological finds that are maybe cursed? Our favorite rogue archeologist is 100% on board. Unfortunately, the best source for information on the rings is Dr. Eustacia Okka, who Aphra’s got some negative history with. Eustacia and Aphra attended school together, but understandably, Eustacia isn’t a fan of her former classmate’s life choices. Ironic, considering that Eustacia’s been expelled from the University herself for chasing after the rings, which aren’t considered credible enough to research. (Is Eustacia the equivalent of the “aliens!” guy on the History Channel? Probably!)
In addition to being myths and/or cursed, the rings are also rumored to grant their wearer “eternal life and boundless fortune”. This means that in addition to our archaeologists and friends, there are others interested in getting their hands on the rings. Ronen Tagge is part of an incredibly wealthy Imperial family, and he’s also chasing the rings. The group decides to work together to get the rings as quickly as possible, and in a win-win-win scenario, Aphra will get the money, Detta will write her thesis, and Eustacia will get sole academic credit for the discovery. I see no way in which this plan, which relies on Aphra working together with one woman she knows doesn’t like her and one woman she’s only known briefly, will go wrong! (I am extremely excited to see how this goes wrong.)
We end with a brief appearance from Tagge, at his home on Canto Bight. He torments some artists, and we get to see the kind of person he is—one who destroys things for pleasure and the satisfaction of preventing others from enjoying them. His goal is to find Eustacia to get to the rings—and it doesn’t seem like he’s got anything nice planned for Aphra.
The art in this issue is dynamic. We get a few fun battle scenes, featuring a great variety of combatants—the robots that Eustacia activates are especially cool. There’s also great body language in this, and I can’t wait to see how Cresta handles Aphra (who’s often juggling half a dozen different plans and betrayals at a time) going forward.
Overall, this issue is a great start to the new era of Aphra.
Liz Large is a copywriter with a lot of opinions on mutants.
Amazing Spider-Man #43
One thing and one thing alone happens in this comic.
Sure, Spidey and Boomerang stop Gog from destroying the city. And Spider-Man stops the Kingpin from causing massive collateral damage [Ed. Note: I dunno, that SEEMS like two things]. And there’s some fun comic science stuff. And Peter and Fred keep the Lifeline tablet away from Fisk.
But the only thing that really happens is that Spider-Man gets a dog. Or a dog-like alien. Or something like that. It’s Gog. Peter adopts Gog after he uses Pym Particles to shrink him to dog size.
Spencer does a fine job. It’s really hard to talk about the writing in an all-action issue, but he does hit on the frenemy relationship between Peter and Fred, one of the best parts of the run, and the ongoing war between Spidey and the Kingpin, one of the other best parts of the run. However, beyond that, it’s just more of Spencer throwing plots at the wall, and who knows how long it will take for anything to happen with them (if at all).
However, Ottley’s art (with Cliff Rathburn inking the pages that he doesn’t himself) still remains the best reason to pick up the series. He draws great action, and thankfully he has a collaborator who knows how to take a step back and let him cut loose. I really want to see Marvel keep Ottley on Spidey as long as they possibly can. He’s one of the best things to happen to the franchise in years and he has strong collaborators in Rathburn inking, and Nathan Fairbairn and Dee Cunniffe on colors.
Oh and the Sin-Eater back-ups that I’ve barely mentioned the last few issues? Another one happens here.
But anyways. Peter Parker gets an alien kaiju as a house pet this issue, and it’s a lot of fun. And pretty cute. That’s about it.
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.
Venom #25
It’s kind of a weird choice to have the big climactic conclusion to your first arc after a massive event be a recap. On one hand, it was definitely helpful given the circumstances around this issue’s release, but on the other I feel like the exposition in this issue will feel really overdone [Ed. Note: Would have been extra strange with no delay]. That being said, though, Donny Cates’ strongest work throughout his Venom run has been his humanization of Eddie Brock, and his ability to dig into the head of a character with such a bizarre beginning. Venom’s not just the big angry goop monster – Eddie Brock has a lot of pathos, something that I’ve felt he hasn’t had pretty much at all before this run began.
Venom’s kind of a weird character to begin with, given that his first appearance involved him trying to kill Spider-Man, and then his next few appearances also were entirely about that. Yet, Marvel decided to push him as an antihero, despite his origin literally being “I want to kill the most popular superhero.” It’s something that’s never worked for me – how can a guy who attempted to murder one of the most upstanding people in the Marvel Universe be at all heroic? Cates digs into this dichotomy, referencing these early appearances and having Eddie properly discuss what he did and try to explain his thoughts. I was really impressed with this issue, just like I’ve been impressed with the run as a whole – Eddie’s a character that I never felt needed or deserved any sympathy, and yet this is easily the best he’s been written.
This is the big anniversary issue, so it’s got a recap of the past and a look towards the future, but honestly I don’t think I’d be doing it justice if I didn’t talk about the backup story, which is just David Michelinie and Ron Lim doing a story set around the Lethal Protector era. It’s ridiculous and stupid but in an almost endearing way. Venom loves peaches, and I just think that’s neat.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much. You will often find him midway through many a foolish reading project, like all of DC’s New 52.
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.
Liz Large is a copywriter with a lot of opinions on mutants.
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.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
