Marvel comics of 1993. We talk Doctor Strange’s all-new Secret Defenders, Sue Storm’s new 4oobs, and X-Men 2099!
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Looking to the Future in Swamp Thing: Becoming
Despite its legendary status in the DC Universe, the Swamp Thing series has spent many years in relative limbo. Created by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson as a creepy but fairly standard horror comic for DC in the ’70s, the concept morphed into the basis for what is widely regarded as one of the most essential graphic novels ever with Alan Moore and Stephen Bissette’s take in Saga of the Swamp Thing. Many industry greats have tried their hand at the character since, giving us no shortage of excellent runs of many different flavors, but there’s been some starts and stops along the way.
With the most recent prior entry in the Swamp Thing story being a mini-series written by co-creator Len Wein in 2016, the 2021 series, The Swamp Thing Volume 1: Becoming, pans the camera away from Alec Holland as the human basis of the character. Taking a step in a different direction with the introduction of Levi Kamei as the avatar of the Green, this series distances us from the metaphysical concerns of the Swamp Thing itself, instead asking larger questions of humanity. Are we doomed as a species to repeat our mistakes until we tear ourselves apart, or is this a painful growing process in which we are becoming something new?
Covering: Future State: Swamp Thing #1-2, Swamp Thing Vol. 7 #1-4 [Read more…] about Looking to the Future in Swamp Thing: Becoming
(Re)Read Hickman’s X-Men: Whose World? Giant-Size X-Men!
The titular questions mark my skepticism about the success of these three double-sized issues as a story arc. In hindsight, the story we get from these visually gorgeous comics feels like it did at the time of publication: Hickman really beginning to toss too many spinning plates into the air and seemingly letting them fade away into the stratosphere. I think we can assume that the question of the long-deflated mystery of Doug, mutantkind’s various techno-organic nightmares, and now, what was initially a camp joke from Morrison—Ultimaton, or Weapon XV—must await Hickman’s eventual return to the X Office. Oh well!
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Forgive But Don’t Forget: Scarlet Witch & Shadow King Reborn in New Mutants #23 & Trial of Magneto #4
Today marks the release of New Mutants #23 and Trial of Magneto #4, two unrelated issues set in the Krakoa era of X-Men that share thematic DNA looking at the paths to reformation and self-acceptance for Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, and Amahl Farouk, aka the Shadow King. I’ll be exploring the parallels and differences in these well known characters journeys, and how current events are shaping where they might fit into mutantkind’s Krakoa and the Marvel Universe going forward.
* Spoilers Follow *
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Writer: Vita Ayala
Artist: Rod Reis
Letters: Travis Lanham
Writer: Leah Williams
Artist: Lucas Werneck and David Messina
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Letters: Clayton Cowles
At the center of these stories we’ll look at how far mutant forgiveness extends, and what accountability looks like for Scarlet Witch and Shadow King. I’ll start with New Mutants and Amahl Farouk, primarily because this run is one of the best New Mutants runs, and easily one of my favorite X-Men comics in 2021. [Read more…] about Forgive But Don’t Forget: Scarlet Witch & Shadow King Reborn in New Mutants #23 & Trial of Magneto #4
DAREDEVIL By Brubaker & Lark – The Downward Spiral of a Hero | Darecember #1
Just how far can a hero fall? In the hands of writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark, we’re about to find out.
Over the last several years, I covered Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev’s Daredevil run – a story that saw Matt Murdock on a path of self destruction that inevitably found the hero of Hell’s Kitchen locked up in Ryker’s Island prison for his obstruction of justice. And this is where Ed Brubaker’s run begins