Hello friends and readers! We’ve got a packed week as Justin Partridge gives us the skinny on Fantastic Four #25, Pierce Lightning hits the full-issue Marvel debut of Taboo with Werewolf By Night #1, Spider Correspondent Tony Thornley grants us Last Rites with Amazing Spider-Man #50.LR, and newcomer to the column Karen Charm marvels at Marvels X #6!
Fantastic Four #25
Written by: Dan Slott
Pencilled and Inked by: RB Silva, Paco Medina, and Will Robson
Coloured by: Jesus Aburtov and Marcio Menyz
Lettered by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
I do this weird thing when it comes to monthly comics.
Every once in a blue moon, a series will come out that I just KNOW I’m gonna hate. Like that recent sorta right wing Freedom Fighters miniseries or any Jeoff Gohns book. Despite it looking obviously repellent, I will check in on it from time to time, as if to reinforce my assumption that yeah, it looked bad and reads even worse and I was right the entire time.
This is pretty much my whole relationship with the Dan Slott Era of Fantastic Four. And Fantastic Four #25 (Legacy #670) has done little to assuage me otherwise.
Despite looking TREMENDOUS, thanks to the stellar efforts of R.B. Silva, fresh from the pages of Empyre and his stays on Krakoa, and backup artists Paco Medina and Wil Robson, both holdovers from Two-in-1 and the criminally underrated latest run of Future Foundation, respectively, Fantastic Four #25 still reads like so much nothing. There is a brand new problem, stemming from some long dormant secret Reed had been keeping for years (if the dialogue to be believed, this particular problem was discovered somewhere between the first and 50th issues of OG Lee/Kirby F4 VOLUME FUCKING ONE, just BECAUSE, I suppose), and the family has to come together, independent of one another, to fix it. Rinse. Repeat. Regurgitate.
It is even MORE frustrating that even the longer running threads, like Sue’s involvement with Marvel black ops and Franklin’s evolving identity as a Mutant, are dealt in similarly wooden deliveries and sequences. The latter of which is given a particularly grim button with Franklin seemingly using up the remainder of his powers to hold off the issue’s antagonist (some random alien we are probably never likely to see again) and then being rejected by the main New York Krakoan Gate.
It’s an oddly mean spirited turn, especially after a sequence in the opening sort of poking FUN at Franklin for going somewhat overboard in exploring his mutantdom. But beyond the meanness, it shows that Slott doesn’t really have any real interest in exploring this story avenue in any real interesting way. Just like he doesn’t want to explore Sue’s turn as a spy and the weird, cloistered way in which the Richards family operates as a unit now to any real depth. Because that would make the book actually interesting for once and not just a hodge-podge of whatever random issue of F4 and Paul Cornell prose he remembers fresher filtered through great superhero art.
I just…I know this book is going to frustrate the shit out of me every time I read it. But that never stops me from hoping that one day, MAYBE ONE day Fantastic Four will be good again. Fantastic Four #25 isn’t that day. But maybe it might be…in twenty five more issues.
Werewolf by Night #1
Written by: Taboo and B. Earl
Penciled by: Scot Eaton
Inked by: Scott Hanna
Coloured by: Miroslav Mrva
Lettered by: VC’s Joe Sabino
Can’t say I expected to see a Werewolf By Night book on the shelves in 2020 but hey, it’s almost Halloween so I can see the thinking. That’s said Taboo and B. Earl craft something that aims to have more legs than your average spooky season miniseries. Do they succeed? Well, that’s a different discussion.
It’s easy to see what the writing duo is going for. Using Taboo’s own Native American roots as a way to recontextualize the Werewolf By Night concept, they’ve put together something that looks to further diversify the Marvel Universe as well as create the foundation for a new teen hero. Jake is 17 years old, lives on a reservation with his grandmother and turns into a Werewolf at night. He uses his powers to protect his home. It’s a pretty stock concept especially where Marvel is concerned. But that’s exactly the problem.
Taboo and Earl don’t give this book the texture it needs to feel truly compelling. Jake are his girlfriend are fairly forgettable. The pacing of the book is choppy as the writers don’t trust readers to intuit anything about the plot instead opting for painstakingly boring conversations between characters.
Scot Eaton’s art doesn’t really help matters. The same way that the plotting takes the longest route to doing the bare minimum, Eaton’s line work does very little to engage the audience in this world. There aren’t many heroes based in Arizona, making this an opportunity to use the strengths of the comic book medium, namely an exciting visual style, to create something readers are begging to see more of. But Eaton’s never been the artist to bring that kind of excitement to the books he works on and despite Marvel’s inexplicable, years long courtship of the Black Eyed Peas, it seems that executing this idea well was low on the list of priorities for the publisher.
The end of the book might be its most promising moment. In the final moments a new Legion of Monsters is teased. But if you didn’t think that a book starring Werewolf by Night was going to get there, I don’t really know what to tell you. While the foundational elements in this issue have potentially, this issue might be the least interesting way to present them all.
Amazing Spider-Man #50.LR
Written by: Nick Spencer and Matthew Rosenberg
Penciled by: Federico Vicentini
Inked by: Federico Vicentini
Coloured by: Marcio Menyz
Lettered by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
A comic that’s really just deleted scenes from the last issue shouldn’t be this interesting.
I fully blame this on Matthew Rosenberg. After this issue, I would love to see Rosenberg get a Spectacular Spider-Man style sister book to Amazing Spidey. He just gets Spider-Man, as this issue and his past work with the character shows.
After the dull slog of last issue, Rosenberg, scripting over a plot by Spencer, shows us what happened between issue #850 and #50, as the Spider-Family is possessed by all the evil that the Sin-Eater sucked over the last few months. They then proceed to beat the hell out of Peter while Norman Osborn has a shrink session with Ashley Kafka.
Rosenberg writes an engaging action book with sharp dialogue. Vincentini has a fantastic and engaging style that’s a mixture of Humberto Ramos and Gleason. He’s does some explosive action sequences throughout the issue, combined with some genuinely scary designs for the possessed Spiders.
But even with all of that, it doesn’t change the fact that this is an issue that’s largely made up of moments that were basically deleted scenes from the last issue, which probably should have been part of that issue. Hopefully the rest of this Last Remains limited-series-within-a-series is more substantive than that.
Marvels X #6
Written by: Alex Ross and Jim Krueger
Penciled by: Well-Bee
Inked by: Well-Bee
Coloured by: Well-Bee
Lettered by: VC’s Cory Petit
Marvels X is an odd project, both a spiritual sequel to Marvels and a direct prequel to the Earth X trilogy. While Marvels was a wide-eyed celebration of the name-sake heroes of the Marvel Universe, Earth X was a bleak, sometimes cynical, vision of their last days – Marvels X blends the two tastes, which doesn’t go down as smoothly as you’d hope.
This final issue opens with a mutant mob causing mayhem because they don’t want to be cured. David has been struggling to find his place among the “Marvels” throughout the series, and so here he gets his big heroic moment. When David comes out of hiding to retrieve Captain America’s shield for the hero mid-battle, the boy leaves himself open to deadly attack. This helps turn the tide of the battle in the heroes favor, but it’s too late for David.
David’s role puzzled me throughout Marvels X. His backstory is genuinely emotional, and I appreciate having a character of color narrating. David’s interactions with the Marvel heroes, however, remind me of a CD I once got that mechanically inserted my name into songs about hanging out with Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, etc. We expect our heroes to be kind to children everywhere, but this felt a bit much. Having a so-called “nobody” turn out to really be “somebody” is a sweet if facile sentiment, but doesn’t really match the tone. What does match is the reveal at the end that David actually is someone Earth X fans would care about – he’s Daredevil (!!!)
I really loved this plot twist. It doesn’t smooth out all the wrinkles in the series or even this issue, but it does justify a lot of the decisions that may have mystified me. Fan service and clever prequel plotting aside, Marvels X is solidly OK. Artist Well-Bee’s inks are dark and chunky, making judicious use of digital effects to stand apart. The art is a perfect midway point between the styles of his X predecessors John Paul Leon and Doug Braithwaite, though falling a bit short of both. Krueger’s dialogue doesn’t register much one way or another, but occasionally he strikes a note that reminds me why I like his writing on the other installments in this franchise. All in all, this comic benefits greatly from its proximity to stronger work, but still manages to find a way to add a significant piece to the mythos.
Justin Partridge has loved comics all his life. He hasn't quite gotten them to love him back just yet. But that hasn't stopped him from trying as he has been writing about them now for a little over a decade. With bylines at Newsarama, Shelfdust, PanelXPanel, and more, Justin has been doing the work and putting in the time! Comics have yet to return his calls. Usually he can be found on Twitter screaming about Doctor Who.
Pierce Lightning is a longtime comics journalist and critic, singer for a band called Power Trash, and staving off the crushing heel of capitalism with every fiber of their comic book loving being.
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.
Karen Charm is a cartoonist and mutant separatist, though they’ve been known to appreciate an Eternal or two.
