Star Wars: Chewbacca

Second of two gifts I bought for the Kiddo at Boocup, Kerry Place, Jingan, Shanghai, China.

Title: Star Wars: Chewbacca
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January  2016
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Phil Noto
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos
Cover: Phil Noto

Classic spaghetti-Western stranger-comes-to-town story with Chewbacca crash-landing on a planet (between the events of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back) and meeting up with a girl who has just escaped imprisonment in a gangster's mining operation.

Writing Chewbacca is an interesting challenge, as his dialogue is restricted to wookie growls and roars, which leaves much of the storytelling in the hands of Zarro the escaped mine-worker. Fortunately, Zarro is a lot of fun, a nice mix of youthful idealism and brash snark.

The villains are less interesting, particularly Jaum, the rather generic gangster boss, who never really feels like he has a chance against the good guys.

There is a bit of backstory and character development for Chewie, but the focus is mostly placed squarely on Zarro, with Chewie as the strong and (not always) silent type.

A couple of other characters who come in later in the story felt a bit underused: Sevox, a blind tinkerer who sees through the eyes of a protocol droid, and the Imperial star destroyer captain Commander Kai both felt like they had a ton of unrealized potential, and it would be great to see either or both of them get more of a spotlight in another series.

Phil Noto's artwork is lovely. He does a great job with Chewbacca's expressions and body language, and I love the look of Zarro. His supporting characters all have excellent and distinctive designs as well.

Rating: 7.5/10

Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal

Bought at the Eslite main store, Taipei, Taiwan, June 2019.

Title: Ms. Marvel
Issue: Volume 1: No Normal
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2018
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Adrian Alphona
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Sana Amanat, Devin Lewis

Jersey City teenager Kamala Khan gains a set of shapeshifting powers and begins figuring out the whole superhero thing.

This is, in many ways, a fairly straightforward superhero origin story, with Kamala Khan as an updated Peter Parker, trying to do good in the world while she deals with the consequences of her new abilities and her sudden status as the mysterious neighborhood hero.

It's the details that make this work. The multifaceted supporting cast is terrific, and the main character is relatable. There are plenty of interesting bits of dialogue and interactions taking place between the super-heroics, and the book has a sly sense of humor and self-awareness. Having worked in Jersey City for four years, I also appreciated the use of the setting.

The only area I felt could have been a bit stronger in this volume was the villain, but he will hopefully get some more development as the story continues.

Rating: 8.5/10

Star Wars: Han Solo: Imperial Cadet #1

A Christmas gift to the Kiddo, bought at Merrymac Games and Comics in Merrimack NH.

Title: Star Wars: Han Solo: Imperial Cadet
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January  2019
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artist: Leonard Kirk
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: David Nakayama
Editor: Mark Paniccia, Tom Groneman

This series fills in the gap in Solo: A Star Wars Story where Han is in the Imperial military. Actually, the first nine pages just adapt early scenes from the film, which I found a bit frustrating, since Marvel already has a separate series adapting the film.

From there, Han gets the bootcamp experience, complete with a lot of silliness in which everyone insists on calling recruits by their number, rather than their name, and then no one seems to be able to stick to it.

We get glimpses of a few character that seem like they have some potential, but the interactions are hurried in order to fit in an action scene where Han tries to steal a TIE fighter.

I get that young Han is supposed to be foolish, desperate, and impulsive, but the whole scene makes very little sense, and the punchline it sets up is not a particularly satisfying one.

This was a glimpse into a chapter in Han Solo's life that I really didn't need.

Rating: 4/10

Darth Vader #1

The Kiddo picked this one out last summer at one of the Newbury Comics stores.

Title: Darth Vader
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July 2016
Writer: Charles Soule
Penciler: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Inker: Cam Smith
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Jim Cheung, Matthew Wilson
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos

This picks up directly from where Revenge of the Sith left off, showing us a newly-armored Vader who is still very much the young, angry man who was brought over to the dark side by Emperor Palpatine.

His initial quest is to gain a lightsaber of his own, and this apparently has to be done to old-fashioned way: by killing someone for it. Of course, with Order 66 already in the books, finding a Jedi may be harder than actually defeating one. As is usual at this stage in the saga, it's all pretty much a win/win for Palpatine.

There was a fun little callback (call-forward, really) to the climactic moment of Return of the Jedi, and the characters and setting look excellent. I didn't find myself all that invested in Vader as a lead character. He's still the whiny Annakin of the prequels here, and it looks like it's going to be a bit of a tall order for this solo (see what I did there?) series to make much of a change in that.

Rating: 5.5/10

Daredevil Noir

From from my unread books pile. I'm not sure where I got this one.

Title: Daredevil Noir
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2009
Writer: Alexander Irvine
Artist: Tom Coker
Colorist: Daniel Freedman
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Axel Alonso, Sebastian Girner, Jennifer Grunwald

Hardcover collection of the original four-issue series.

Set in Marvel's "Noir" alternate universe, this 1930s-era version of Daredevil has most of the classic elements readers will expect: Wilson Fisk, Foggy Nelson, Hell's Kitchen, and even a "Bullseye Killer".

This was a very well crafted story that stands on its own, and retains the heart of Daredevil's mythos. The action sequences were excellent, and the characters were spot-on. Foggy Nelson and the Kingpin were especially good.

Really, in many ways, this story could have been done in the standard continuity as easily as in this alternate world, and some readers may find that it is not enough of a departure. The changes made from the standard Marvel continuity didn't feel like much of a leap: Matt Murdock is an assistant to Foggy, a private investigator. Other than that, the biggest change is a new interpretation of Bullseye, and the addition of gangster Orville Halloran, and up-and-coming mobster who serves as an effective new villain.

The pacing of the story was a nice build to an effective conclusion, and I thought the climactic twists and action were effective, along with a really fun open ending in the final pages.

This is a good story that hits Daredevil's classic thematic elements through just enough of a different lens to make it feel fresh.

Rating: 8.5/10

X-Men #1: Free Comic Book Day 2008

Another 2008 Free Comic Book Day offering, this one from Marvel. From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: X-Men
Issue: 1 (Free Comic Book Day 2008 Edition)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: May, 2008
Writer: Mike Carey
Penciller: Greg Land
Inker: Jay Liesten
Colorist: Justin Ponsor
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Nick Lowe, Will Panzo

Megan Gwynn, AKA Pixie, is back home in Wales after a year at Xavier's School. She's trying to fit back in, but the fact that people keep mysteriously vanishing from her small town is making things rather difficult for her.

It's not long before she's facing down a full-fledged demonic invasion. Fortunately, the X-Men are there to back her up.

This was a really great introduction to Pixie, who I had not previously been familiar with. She's a fun blend of magical and mutant powers, and her personality really shines in this story as she fights the bad guys on her own first, and then alongside the full X-Men team.

The X-Men had some good lines, and there was a quick exchange between Pixie and Emma Frost that I thought was an excellent use of both characters.

The story is self-contained, and provides a nice introduction for new readers. Its biggest weakness is the villains, who are generic, and who barely put up a fight in the final battle scene. The artwork in that scene was a bit confusing in places, although I thought the art in the rest of the book was quite good.

This was a book that accomplished its purpose as an introduction to the X-Men series, and did an exceptionally good job of introducing Pixie.

Rating: 8/10

Darth Vader #21

Back to the random stack of unread comics. This is a fairly recent one that I got this past summer.

Title: Darth Vader
Issue: 21
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August, 2016
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos

I am not ashamed to admit that the variant cover with the awesome action figure packaging design totally sold me on this comic. I love this cover theme! So much childhood nostalgia!

That being said, I knew nothing about the Darth Vader series going into this. Apparently it takes place between Episode IV and Episode V, and Vader is trying to get back into the good graces of Emperor Palpatine following the destruction of the Death Star. He is tasked with capturing Cylo, a mad scientist type who turned against the Empire (not to the rebel side, mind you, this guy appears to just be out for himself).

Meanwhile, there's a second plot involving Vader sending a pair of droids who are essentially heel versions of C3PO and R2D2 to retrieve a former ally of his who has gone into hiding.

The bad-guy droids are a little goofy, and it was odd to see Vader in a sort of solo-adventurer heroic role (although it's really no different than things he did all the time as Anakin).

There is also an issue of flavor that can be a problem for me with some Star Wars comics. Cylo's organic-mechanical ships didn't feel authentically Star Wars to me, for reasons I can't pin down to more than just "vibe". To be fair, I think that keeping the flavor of a tie-in when you're being asked to expand on the universe is really difficult. But the stuff involving Cylo still didn't feel to me like it fit.

That being said, the action was good, the dialogue was good, and the ending cliffhanger at least looked entertaining.

Rating: 5.5/10

Mockingbird #5

Third in the stack of five recent comics I bought on my brief trip back to the US. These were purchased at Newbury Comics' Braintree MA location.

Title: Mockingbird
Issue: 5
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: September 2016
Writer: Chelsea Cain
Artist: Ibrahim Moustafa
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Katie Kubert
Cover: Joelle Jones, Rachelle Rosenberg

I'd heard good things about the Mockingbird series and issue #5 happened to be the one in stock at the store I visited.

The basic idea here is that SHIELD agent Bobbi Morse is has been infected with a virus that gives her superpowers. Well, really it's the virus itself has superpowers and it lets her use them.

The virus also reanimates corpses into zombies, which is a problem because Agent Morse is in the SHIELD medical facility, which happens to have a good supply of donated-to-science bodies.

Also, Spider-Man (Miles Morales, I think) and Howard the Duck. No, really.

This was very witty. Good joke density too. It was absolutely loaded with snark, and the creative team didn't let the plot get in the way of opportunities for more snark. Seriously, there was an entire page devoted to Bobby going off on an illustrated tangential rant about bad ideas in history.

This was pretty entertaining, even if it was mostly a throwaway story up until a final plot twist that seemed like it was going to shape the direction of the story moving forward.

Did I mention there is a page of paper dolls that includes a severed zombie head?

Funny stuff. I enjoyed this.

Rating: 7/10

Ms. Marvel #10

As promised, here is the new stack of to-read comics that I brought back to Vietnam from the US following our recent visit. The majority of these came from a box of pretty random unread comics in our storage unit, but I also attended two conventions and visited several comic shops during my time in the States, so there are some new items in this stack too.

Here is the new stack nicely organized...

...And spread out on the sofa.
















Today's review is a comic I bought off the rack at Double Midnight Comics & Games in Manchester NH. I've been hearing a lot of good things about the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, and this is my first chance to read a story featuring her.

Title: Ms. Marvel
Issue: 10
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: February, 2015
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Adrian Alphona
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Kris Anka
Editor: Sana Amanat, Devin Lewis

This is part 3 of a four-part story entitled "Generation Why". The basic premise has a villain named the Inventor enslaving teenagers and using them as power sources (think The Matrix) to provide energy for his power-armor and other machines.

But when some of them are freed by Ms. Marvel, she discovers that they may not have been enslaved against their wills at all. What follows is a fairly interesting conversation on the role of the young generation growing up into an economy and an environment ruined by previous generations, who still view the teenagers as parasites, unwilling to work for the same materialistic goals that served in the past.

While a lot of it echoed some internet memes that I have seen floating around, it still made for a good discussion and gave a chance for Kamala Khan to share some of her philosophical ideas.

There was some action here as well, but it was mostly setup for a big final battle next issue. Oh, and Lockjaw from the Inhumans is a guest star here. Kamala Khan's origin apparently has her down as an inhuman, I would assume as a result of Marvel's pushing of the Inhumans as the new version of mutants that Marvel actually owns the cinematic rights to.

I loved Kamala Khan. She's thoughtfully written with a fun and distinctive voice and perspective. I was less impressed with the villain. The Inventor would have been more interesting if he'd matched Kamala philosophically, rather than doing generic villain-ranting while his teenaged followers handled the debating. Given the questions and issues raised here, a villain who could contribute more to the intellectual argument would have been a nice addition.

Still, I found this to be a clever, all-ages-friendly story, and I look forward to reading more of Kamala Khan's adventures.

Rating: 6/10

 

Legendary Starlord #3

This is my second review from my Free Comic Book Day haul here in Vietnam. Free comics were limited to one per person (they actually had a pretty big crowd at the event). Since my wife and son were there, we took home three of the official freebies. I also bought a couple of comics to read with the Kiddo (who is just being introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the last year or so), so this is one of the purchased books.

 Title: Legendary Starlord
Issue: 3
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: November, 2014
Writer: Sam Humphries
Penciler: Paco Medina
Inker: Juan Vlasco
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Paco Medina
Editor: Mike Marts, Xander Jarowey

Pretty basic story here. Star Lord wakes up in a jail cell, and goes about escaping. In between there is a hologram of a woman wearing a banana costume, a treacherous secret agent, a mysterious kid, a hot-rod starship, and a ton of snark.

Nothing in here is all that original, but it somehow comes together into a very entertaining story that does a nice job of matching the pacing and flavor of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

I read this out loud to the Kiddo (Guardians was his first Marvel movie, and he's become a pretty big fan), and he really enjoyed it.

More fun than it had any right to be.

Rating: 7.5/10

X-Men #1

Back for the summer and hopefully beyond!

I had to drop this review blog for a few months when things got a bit too busy at the day job. Now that school is out (I'm a high school teacher), I've got the time. And I am certainly not lacking in unread comics.

For my big return to reviewing, however, I stopped by my local Newbury Comics to check out the recent releases. This seemed like a good one to start with.

Title: X-Men #1
Date: July, 2013
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Olivier Coipel, Laura Martin
Editor: Jennifer M. Smith, Jeanine Schaefer


I picked up the "sketch-cover" version of this. The blank cover (that is available for drawing on) is made of a cardstock that helps the book hold together better, and the regular cover is underneath. Nice. I'll probably be buying more of these versions when looking at new comics.


This is the (upteenth) relaunch of X-Men, and it got a fair amount of attention in the press due to the fact that it features an all-female cast. Specifically, the team lineup is Storm, Rogue, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Psylocke, and whatever Rachel Summers is calling herself these days.


It's set at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning (for those not up on your X-Men lore, that's the current incarnation of Xavier's School), so there is a huge potential supporting cast. In a sense, this is not precisely an all-female X-Men team, but rather a comic about the X-Men as a whole that heavily focuses on the six female starring characters.


The story here concerns John Sublime, who is actually a telepathic microorganism who has the ability to possess human bodies. It seems Sublime has an even worse sister who has similar abilities with technology, and she's back on Earth and looking to make trouble.


There's a train-imperilment sequence that showcases the current X-Men working as a team, which they do quite well so far, and a lot of set-up for future plot, but the whole thing moves along with a reasonable mix of character development, suspense, and enough action to keep it from dragging.


Nothing shocking or groundbreaking, but a good solid X-Men story that does a great job of focusing on the new lineup without it ever failing to feel like the X-Men.


Rating: 7.5/10

The Amazing Spider-Man: Free Comic Book Day 2011

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man: Free Comic Book Day 2011
Date: 2011
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Dan Slot
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Carlos Cuevas, Victor Olazaba
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Ellie Pyle, Stephen Wacker

Spider-Man brawls with Spider-Woman, who is under the control of the (extremely annoying) Mandrill. Mandrill's power is mind control over females only, which is probably exactly what the world of comics needed (not) after SDCC 2011 and that now-famous Batgirl cosplayer asking about the lack of female creators in the "New 52". So, yeah, Mandrill's deal is that he's basically a sexist concept (women can't resist his animal magnetism), but that's okay because he gets punched out in the end, right?

You know what would be more okay? If Mandrill never appeared in another story.

Fortunately, this story gets a bit better as it goes. Following the Mandrill idiocy, we have a guest appearance by Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, who ends up training Spidey (who has lost his spider-sense to a heavyhanded plot device).

One exchange that was really great here: Peter Parker taking a scientific view of martial arts, contrasted with Shang-Chi's more spiritual view. Very cool.

The end of the issue is previews, starting with a little teaser for the Spider Island storyline. To finish up the book, there is a five-page preview of Fear Itself, with Sin getting her own personal magical hammer. It's not horrible, but it could easily have been told in 2-3 pages without losing anything.

There were a lot of attempts at humor in the main story, and some of them worked. I don't find Mandrill or his power funny, so some was lost on me, but Peter Parker trying out his official status as an Avenger to get himself out of legal entanglements was pretty amusing, as were some of the interactions between Parker and Shang-Chi.

Rating: 4.5/10

The Amazing Spider-Man: Grim Hunt: The Kraven Saga

We had technical problems last night. Here's yesterday's review. This is a Marvel freebie from last year that I picked up in my Free Comic Book Day haul.

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man: Grim Hunt: The Kraven Saga
Date: May, 2010
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciler: Michael Lark
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: VCs Joe Caramagna
Editor: Stephen Wacker, Tom Brennan

This is a promo for the Grim Hunt story arc in the Spider-Man titles. It starts with an eight-page preview from the series, which features some great artwork, especially on a two-page spread on the Sinister… um… well, I was going to say the Sinister Six, but there are actually seven dudes facing Spidey down (Sandman, Lizard, Rhino, Vulture, Electro in new non-goofy costume, Doc Ock, and Mysterio). I think that was Doc Ock anyway. Different costume, same tentacles.

Unfortunately, almost all of the action takes place in a dream sequence generated by Madame Web, who is a captive of Kraven's Daughter (if this was DC, she'd turn out to be Duela Dent!). Spider-Girl is also being held captive, and seems to serve the primary purpose protesting uselessly while we get plenty of images of her in bondage. Madame Web is actually the more scrappy of the two. Also, she's actively trying to do something about their situation. So of course she's in for some off-panel torture to further convince us that the bad guys (girls, actually: Kraven's daughter and her mom) are, indeed, bad.

Spidey, meanwhile does not much of anything.

This is then followed by a brief sketchbook feature and then a very comprehensive index to every appearance of Kraven in the Marvel Universe with bits of the original art. This was fairly interesting to the nostalgia buff in me, and it was particularly fun to see some of Kraven's encounters with other Marvel characters like Beast, Ka-Zar, and Tigra. The book ended with Handbook of the Marvel Universe style entries for Karaven and the Chameleon. These were both a bit redundant with the timeline feature from earlier in the book.

Overall, this was a fun look back, but it didn't make me want to read the new storyline.

Rating: 5.5/10