Thor: Who Holds the Hammer?

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Thor: Who Holds the Hammer?
Issue: Volume 2: Who Holds the Hammer?
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2016
Writer: Jason Aaron, Noelle Stevenson, CM Punk, Don Glut
Artist: Russell Dauterman, Timothy Truman, Marguerite Sauvage, Rob Guillory, Rafael Albuquerque, Rick Hoberg, Dave Hunt
Colorist: Matthew Wilson, Frank Martin, Marguerite Sauvage, Rob Guillory, G. Gafford
Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino, Carol Lay
Editor: Wil Moss, Jon Moisan

This collection reprints Thor #6-8 from 2014, plus Thor Annual #1, and a classic What If? story from 1977.

The major story point covered here is the revelation of the identity of the new female Thor, which follows a battle between the Destroyer and Thor, who is joined by Odinson, Freya, and a whole crew of female superheroes from the list of people that Odinson thought might be Thor.

Destroyer, unfortunately, is not a terribly interesting villain, and the drama between Freya and Odin during the fight only helps matters minimally, as most of the action is just Destroyer no-selling everyone's attacks.

I did like the new Thor, and the revelation of her identity was a great scene, even if it followed a not-too-convincing red herring.

The rest of the book is the very definition of "mixed bag", with three stories from the Thor annual showing Thor in different eras. The future-Thor story was clever, if a bit simple. Noelle Stevenson's rendition of the present Thor was sweet while still capturing the flavor of some of the more humorous Norse myths. The story set in the past, penned by former wrestler CM Punk was a bit less subtle on the humor front, with Mephisto taking on Thor in a drinking contest, but it did have some funny bits.

The last feature is this collection was the reprint of the 1977 story What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor? This had a surprising number of plot twists, including one dubious one that attempts to give a satisfactory ending to the story's romantic elements and ends up just seeming... weird. But I did like Jane Foster as Thordis, who comes off as smart and serious in the superhero role.

Rating: 6/10

Marvel Legacy #1

I bought this sometime this past summer. I think it was a special discount deal at a comic shop somewhere.

Title: Marvel Legacy
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: November 2017
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Esad Ribic, Steve McNiven, Chris Samnee, Russell Dauterman, Alex Maleev, Ed McGuiness, Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, Peppe Larraz, Jim Cheung, Daniel Acuna, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Mike Deodato Jr., David Marquez
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Cover: Joe Quesada
Editor:Tom Brevoort, Alanna Smith

This is the introductory special for Marvel's Legacy crossover event/soft reboot. The direction that it's heading in seems to be aimed at bringing some classic Marvel heroes who have been in the background (or "dead in the Marvel Universe") back into the major storylines.

The story opens one million years in Earth's past, and features a kind of Pleistocene superhero crossover between some of the Marvel Universe's best known immortal beings. It was cute, but perhaps played a bit too much for laughs as they tried to get a bunch of personalities across quickly.

Shifting to modern times, the book then goes into prologue mode for a whole bunch of different Legacy plotlines. There isn't much in the way of a common thread. There is a big cosmic threat inbound, and another one awakening on Earth. And several different villains are on quests to seek out sources of power and other mysterious McGuffins.

It was nice to get a quick look at Ironheart and Jane Foster Thor. I hadn't had a chance to read their books and they both seem like a lot of fun.

But the whole thing was terribly disjointed, failing to give more than a few characters any real chance to capture the reader's attention. By the time I was done, I had no idea what this  crossover was about or why it was happening (other than to sell books with lenticular covers), and I can't name a single title in Marvel Legacy that I am interested in reading as a result of having read this.

Rating: 4/10

Star Wars #33

Our travels in the US continue. We spent last weekend in Annapolis MD, where we attended my cousin's wedding. In addition to wedding-based activities, we toured the US Naval Academy, saw Spider-Man: Homecoming (loved it!), and stopped by Capital Comics, where the Kiddo picked out this recent Star Wars issue.

Title: Star Wars
Issue: 33
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: September, 2017
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Salvador Larroca
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Editor: Jordan D. White, Heather Antos
Cover: Mike Mayhew

This takes place between episodes 4 and 5, with Luke and Leia are stranded together on an uninhabited island located on a mostly-ocean planet.

Making the wise decision to completely ignore any potential awkwardness resulting from this scenario, the story focuses on Leia, whose narration adds some depth to her character while at the same time explaining how the Princess ended up with some wilderness skills.

This is a nice interlude without a lot of major plot implications. The visuals are good and the insights into Luke and Leia are interesting. There are enough twists to make a decent self-contained story.

Rating: 6/10


 

True Believers: Star Wars #1

Picked this issue up at Comics for Collectors in Ithaca NY USA during our 2016 Father/Son Road Trip.

Title: True Believers: Star Wars
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July 2016
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover: John Cassaday, Laura Martin
Editor: Jordan D. White, Charles Beacham

This takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, with the regular crew of heroes attempting to infiltrate and take out an Imperial weapons factory.

Having read a lot of Star Wars comics, with many of them just feeling a bit "off", this was a pleasant surprise. Artist John Cassaday did a great job with the look of the characters, and writer Jason Aaron just nailed the character interactions and the overall flavor.

Cassaday also had some great-looking work on the action scenes, particularly on Chewbacca leaping to escape a collapsing platform and Leia punching out an Imperial officer.

A confrontation between Luke and Vader feels like a bit of a tease given the restrictions of continuity, but if you can put that aside, this is a really fun bit of space adventure that fits the Star Wars universe perfectly.

Rating: 8/10

Marvel Free Previews: Secret Wars

Not technically a Free Comic Book Day book, this was a freebie that was widely available last summer. I'm not sure which store I picked it up in.

Title: Marvel Free Previews: Secret Wars
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2015
Writer: Jason Aaron, Felipe Smith, James Robinson, Sam Humphries, Brian Michael Bendis, Charles Soule, Dan Slott, Peter David, Skottie Young, Chris Sims, Chad Bowers, Scott Koblish, Jason Aaron, Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Chris Sprouse, Juan Gedeon, Steve Pugh, Alti Firmansyah, Mike Deodato, Leinil Yu, Adam Kubert, Greg Land, Skottie Young, Chris Sims, Chad Bowers, Scott Koblish, Mike del Mundo, Carlos Pacheco

I didn't pay much attention to last year's revival of Secret Wars. It seemed to involve a ridiculous amount of books, even by the standards of modern mainstream comics crossover "events". I did pick up this handy free preview, though.

So, from what I can tell from this, Secret Wars is basically a ten-year-or-so run of What If?, all released in the space of a few months and all connected by some vague attempt at continuity, with Doctor Doom as the main villain.

This book previews the following titles:

Thors: It's a bunch of versions of Thor functioning as Doom's police force in a story that's, well, a police procedural. Silly. Oh, and it has Beta Ray Bill. So even more silly.

Ghost Racers: Like NASCAR except all the drivers are versions of Ghost Rider. Also, Arcade is in this one. Not sure how this is supposed to be entertaining.

Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies: Okay, you're just trolling us at this point, right? Tigra seems to be the lead character here. Zombie-Kingpin makes for a disturbing visual.

Star Lord and Kitty Pryde: This one was fairly entertaining. In addition to the title characters, Gambit is prominently featured, as well as an odd take on Drax.

Guardians of Knowwhere: Drax (different version than above) and Angela fight for pretty much no reason inside a (not a moon) space station made from a Celestial's head.

Civil War: No, not THAT Civil War. Although the basic theme is there. Cap and Iron Man each rule half of North America. Stark is Lawful Good; Rogers is Chaotic Good. And speaking of good, this preview was actually really good. First story in this book that I'd actually be interested in reading.

The Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows: Peter Parker is married to Mary Jane and they have a young daughter. This looked like fun. Sense of humor with heart. Presented in black-and-white for some reason that I can't fathom.

Future Imperfect: Hulk has a beard. And calls himself the Maestro now. Nothing much happens in this preview.

Giant-Size Little Marvel: A v. X: Basically a toy commercial.

X-Men '92: Okay, this was hilarious. In classic early-90s X-Book style, the X-Men head to the local mall in Westchester so that Jubilee can whup them at Lazer Tag. Third winner from this batch. Let's see how many more we get.

Weirdworld: As you might expect from the title, this was incoherent. The art was lovely, and the final page (revealing the "map" of Weirdworld) was awesome.

Squadron Sinister: Squadron Sinister kill Squadron Supreme in one of those superhero-battle-where-characters-actually-die scenarios, and none of the characters are anyone we care about. It doesn't help that the good guys and the bad guys are both rather blatant knock-offs of the Justice League. Which may be the point; I'm not up on my Squadron-Whatever history. Oh, and some random person gets their arms ripped off. Because... I'm not really sure. To remind everyone that the bad guy is a bad guy, I guess.

Mrs. Deadpool and the Howling Commandos: Okay, at least they chose to end on a high note. Deadpool mixed with 1970s Marvel monster comics is pure magic. This should have been the entire crossover. The "Secret War" could have been between the writing teams, pitting their various "What If?" scenarios against each other, and this totally would have won.

So, that makes thirteen previews. I found four of them entertaining, two for decent-quality story (Civil War, Renew Your Vows), and two for ridiculously over-the-top entertaining concepts (X-Men '92, Mrs Deadpool). I'll also half a vote each to Weirdworld and Kitty Pryde/Starlord, which at least looked like they had some potential.

The bad news is, that's still only 5 out of 13.

Which amounts to (after generously rounding up):

Rating: 4/10

Thor: God of Thunder #1

Title: Thor: God of Thunder #1
Date: January, 2013
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciler: Esad Ribis
Colorist: Dean White
Letterer: VC's Joe Sabino
Cover: Esad Ribis
Editor: Lauren Sankovitch, Jake Thomas, Axel Alonso

Thor is often at his best when he's interacting with the characters of Norse mythology, rather than the modern mythology of the Marvel Universe. This story proves to be a fine example of that, as Thor is kept firmly in his own continuity for the duration.

The story is really three stories, taking place in the past, the present, and in the (possible) future. The villain is Gorr the God Butcher, a murderer of gods and entire pantheons.

The opening story, set in medieval Iceland, has Thor encountering some of Gorr's handywork while visiting a Norse village. Thor has defeated the frost giants that were menacing the region, and he's getting the rock star treatment from the locals. Thor is presented here as a brash young adventurers, and when he finds the remains of a slain Native American god, his young confidence is shaken for perhaps the first time.

The second segment, set in the present, but on a distant planet is the best part of the book. One of the things we seldom get to see with Marvel's gods is them actually functioning as gods. In this segment, we get to see Thor actually answering someone's prayer. It's a really interesting scene, and it leads to Thor's second crossing of paths with Gorr.

Now, Gorr himself never appears in this issue, but that is part of what makes the storytelling effective here. The villain is given sufficient time to be built up as a very serious threat, which is necessary to make the final segment, which takes place in a possible future, credible.

That ending segment is a bit Elseworlds-ish (or at least reminiscent of a What If? story), but it was effective on the strength of the first two segments.

Good start to this new series.

Rating: 8/10

Avengers Vs. X-men #1

Title: Avengers Vs. X-Men
Date: June, 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover: Jim Cheung, Justin Ponsor
Editor: Nick Lowe, John Denning, Lauren Sankovitch, Tom Brevoort

So, this is the "I'm With The X-Men!" variant, not particularly because I'm with the X-Men, but because the "I'm With The Avengers!" variant was sold out at my local comic shop.

It too how many writers to come up with this nonsense?

The Phoenix force is headed for Earth, and Hope has already started manifesting some Phoenix SFX.

So of course the thing to do is for Captain American to show up on X-Island (or whatever they're calling it) and demand that Hope be put into protective custody. Which would leave the X-Men hopeless. Sorry. I'll stop now.

Anyway, while Cap is being an idiot, Cyclops has turned full-on villain, to the point that Magneto and Emma Frost are even impressed.

Talking soon turns to fighting, Scott blasts Cap, and Cap orders the SHIELD Helicarrier to lower the cloaking device and arm the photon torpedoes. Oh, and to assemble the Avengers while they're at it.

None of which is actually going to help with that whole Phoenix-force-heading-for-Earth thing. But that's okay. There are five writers working on this. One of them must be handling that.

With the X-Men? With the Avengers? I think I'm going to be standing with those who demand that their comics actually make sense.

Rating: 4/10

Oh, and before I go, since when is Namor an X-Man? Never mind. Don't answer that.

X-Men Vs. Avengers Program Guide

This is a freebie that I picked up with this week's new comics.

Title: X-Men Vs. Avengers Program Guide
Date: 2012
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman
Artist: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Frank Cho
Letterer: VC's Chris Eliopaulas
Cover: Jason Keith
Editor: Alex Alonso

Preview freebie for the upcoming X-Men vs. Avengers mega-crossover.

There are two actual story segments in here, along with a lot of filler.

First up, Cyclops takes Hope to task for, well, for acting like a super-hero, basically. Scott is being the overprotective father-figure, and he's not exactly thrilled with Hope jetpacking into the city to do the masked vigilante thing (well, technically she's doing it without a mask). What Hope really wants is to know the whole truth about the Phoenix, which is apparently going to be at the core of the upcoming schmozz. It's actually a pretty reasonable request. Scott clams up. Jerk. But we knew that about Scott, didn't we?

Scott ends the scene by admitting it could have gone better. Yeah, that's the problem when your idiotic insistence on not telling the truth to your kid becomes a useful plot device.

Choose your side, huh? Definitely rooting for the Avengers after that nonsense.

Second segment is the announcement that the Phoenix is heading for Earth. The Avengers are going to attack it in space, but they are so convinced that that plan is hopeless that I was left wondering why they would even bother. Meanwhile, Cap decided to go chat with the X-Men. First stop is the current version of Xavier's School, run by Wolverine. Cap wants to know if he can "count on" Logan. Logan replies with the silent sulking of deep conflict. Then it's off to visit the regular X-Men team. For those keeping score, that's Cyclops, Hope, Magneto, Namor (really?!?), Colossus, and Emma Frost. And now Scott has moved away from the moron role he had in the first scene and is dropping hints of a full-on heel turn. Magneto is amused. Cap shows up on the scene, but we cut before anything of consequence happens.

Extras included a few sketches by John Romita Jr. of upcoming action. I didn't find any of them to be all that intriguing, although Cage landing a right hook on Namor in the water was a pretty gorgeous piece of art.

There is also an extended roster of the various people involved, each with a summary of powers, and a "role" presented somewhat in the style of MMORPG roles ("Leader", "Tank", "Striker", etc). Some of these designations get a bit goofy. I particularly liked the fact that Logan's role is listed as "The Best There Is".

Rest of the book is ads, essentially. Well, really, the whole book is an ad, of course, but the rest of the book is more obviously ads.

I'd never seen the character Hope, and this teaser succeeded in getting me interested in her as a character. I also liked the portrayals of Wolverine and Cap, but I still didn't feel there was enough here to hook me into wanting to read a massive crossover. The Dark Phoenix Saga has already suffered from too many sequels, and this did nothing to justify yet another one.

Rating: 4.5/10