Artist: Brent Schoonover
Color Artist: Jordan Boyd
Review: William "identity crisis" Dubbeld
There's been exceptions here and there, but I've overall been a bit disappointed with the company's direction since the conclusion of Seige.
Some great books serving as connective tissue between mega-events is not an acceptable business model in my opinion, and after duds like Original Sin and Civil War II: Electric Boogaloo, the House of Ideas needs an enema.
But we're in luck, True Believers!
Marvel has listened to the fans, or at least the sales figures, and has pledged a paradigm shift.
Despite foot-in-mouth statements about diversity and some frankly horseshit editorial direction...
Secret Empire was the most divisive storyline I can remember ever having been written in Marvel comicdom, largely due to the proliferation of internet platforms. I'm saving my full barrage about Secret Empire and Nick Spencer for another day, but suffice to say it was a misfire.
To be considerate.
In the wake of Nazi Cap, Marvel is going through a Rebirth. A rebranding. A return to the old ways and recapturing the faith of the reader base.
Or so we're told.
Launching Marvel Legacy is a series of books showcasing, apropos, legacy characters. Your Spider-Men, Wolverines, Ms. Marvels and Captains Marvel spearhead a series of books wherein legacy characters interact with their forebears. I've little to no interest in Miles Morales or X-23, but Captain Marvel on the other hand...
Ah, Carol...
I've always had a soft spot for Carol Danvers. Her Ms. Marvel days were long gone by the time we met, instead I knew her as Binary and she spent her days tooling around the Shi'ar empire with space pirates from the X-Men books.
She also punched Rogue into low-orbit one time, and that was amazing.
Relegated largely to the B-roll, Carol has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity these past several years. Despite being horribly written off-character in Civil War II, Carol Danvers has become popular enough to maintain several ongoing series and land a movie in the MCU.
But the specter of Mar-Vell lurks always.
Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel, was to me like that family member who died before you were born, yet you grow up idolizing. He's the grandfather that died in WWII or that uncle who died in 'Nam, immortalized in a picture on the mantle. You never met and have to live vicariously through the memories of others.
That's how I feel about Mar-Vell. He was long-dead by the time I started reading comics but has always been an omnipresent figure in one way or another.
Amazingly, he's stayed dead all these years. There's been some red herring resurrections here and there and some cockamamie scheme to crowbar Noh-Varr into the role, but Captain Marvel has remained deceased.
Until now.
Or so I thought, anyway.
Rather than the return of Captain Marvel we're treated to some good ol' time travel malarkey.
Not a great way to get my faith back, Marvel...
Carol finds herself in the Negative Zone, which is great, and side-by-side with her namesake.
We're treated to a fracas with Annihilus, which also is great, but the whole book is a bit of a farce.
It reminds me of a half-hour Very Special Episode where Carol learns the true meaning of Christmas or somesuch, without having any bearing on the rest of the series.
As an aside: Annihilus.
I love this guy. He's an evil extra-dimensional bug with the general effectiveness of Skeletor. Sure, he's had his moments in the spotlight, but largely he's used as a cliched cartoonish villain these days.
Myahhh!
Annihilus gets a free pass here, but this story is largely a dud. It's an archetypical story about the downtrodden raising up to take arms against their oppressors, spurred into action by an outsider who yadda yadda yadda. You've heard this story before, and probably more effectively told.
There's really no standout character moments, and that might be the most disappointing angle of the book. The pacing is excellent and the action is good, but the plotting and dialogue is dry white toast. It's a real shame, too, given the gravitas of the titular characters and the wasted opportunity to symbolically launch the Legacy line with these two flagships.
The art does the trick, harkening back to the four-color halcyon days of Marvel. It's a simpler style unreliant on moody colors and hyper-realism to set the scene.
Whereas the story falls short, the art picks up some slack. The layout in this book is rock-solid and there's a page-7 Mar-Vell reveal that's one of those, "fuck yeah, comics!", moments.
Art aside, this is a disappointing way to be introduced to Marvel's new direction. I absolutely understand the endgame and am not surprised the House of Ideas is aping Distinguished Competition's playbook. They're gonna need to step that game up, though. DC Rebirth plucked at my heartstrings with Wally West and gave me some faith, Watchmen notwithstanding, in DC righting the ship. This Marvel Legacy book is not as inspiring, however.
Perhaps it's a fluke, but I really hope the Legacy they're referring to is one of Atlantis Attacks and not Age of Ultron.
No comments:
Post a Comment