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The Maestro (Future Hulk) Reading Order!

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A character with a 60-year history set in a multiverse will see countless alternative versions created to support the story creatively and/or commercially. The ability to take an already successful character and make fundamental changes without impacting the original character is a valuable tool. The Hulk is no stranger to this idea and this has allowed the character to be taken to unique places. We have seen a “Nerd Hulk”, a “Punk Hulk”, Worlds where Hulk and Banner have been successfully separated, and whatever the hell Ultimate Hulk was trying to accomplish.

The Maestro stands apart from the other variations and has created his own gamma footprint in the Marvel Universe. The Maestro is the nightmare future scenario where a Post-Apocalyptic Hulk and Banner live as one with Banner’s intelligence and the Hulk’s strength aligned, and a malevolent dictator forged. [Read more…] about The Maestro (Future Hulk) Reading Order!

DC’s Earth One: You Can’t Go Home Again

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Earth One Box Set

Superman: Earth One v1

Michael Straczynsk • Shane Davis • Ardian Syaf

Batman: Earth One v1

Geoff Johns • Gary Frank

Wonder Woman: Earth One v1

Grant Morrison • Yanick Paquette • Nathan Fairbairn • Todd Klein

Earth One: Genesis

By 2010, Marvel was deep into its Ultimates Universe, their alternate universe for experimenting with modernizing their heroes and taking big swings. By the same token, DC was mostly past the failure of its All-Star line, which attempted the same approach and met some success, but ultimately never coalesced into a cohesive vision the way Ultimates had.

Earth One is an attempt at replicating the first and fixing the second. Like Ultimates, the line focuses on retelling the origins of popular superheroes now recast in the 21st century. And like All-Star, it tries to do that by giving DC’s top talent a ton of freedom.

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Confronting Fascism with Surrealism: Tradd Moore’s Variant Cover for “The Department of Truth Number” #4

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“The Department of Truth” #4 variant cover (2020) by Tradd Moore, after “The First Tribute to Columbus” by José Garnelo y Alda (1892) and “Fireside Angel” by Max Ernst (1937). “The Department of Truth” is by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds.

Drawing from two historical paintings, Tradd Moore’s scene of the first encounter between Europeans and indigenous Lucayans, includes “the woman in red” as well as a massive thought-form emanating from the Christian cross. This serves to instantly extend the historical reach of Tynion’s lore about the exchange and dominance of ideas, while being in-itself, a commentary about the inherent malicious nature of religious colonialism being a mode of fascism. More than merely an homage to how the artistic form of surrealism confronts fascism, Moore employs his distinct style, presenting a brilliant, memorable, and stunning work of art. Appearing to the public as a variant cover for “The Department of Truth,” the message encoded within the art can be easily glossed over, or may simply go unseen by many because it gets pushed back in the stack of monthly additions or added to back issue bins, but it begs to be held and reconsidered deeply. [Read more…] about Confronting Fascism with Surrealism: Tradd Moore’s Variant Cover for “The Department of Truth Number” #4

How to (Re)Read the Hickman Era of X-Men: Powers of X #2 Pt. 2, Powers of X #3

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I. POX2: Year 100

So, who else would bi-centenarian Logan call “old man” (POX 1) but the millennia-old Apocalypse? Here, in a world where Xavier was killed as a young man, Xavier’s murderer is also “boss”—made crystal clear, shockingly, by Apocalypse’s reference to Logan as War, and hence one of his Horsemen. This means that the Apocalypse of Moira’s ninth life had infected Logan with a Death Seed, just as the Life-Ten Apocalypse did to Angel, thereby transforming him into Death. It was Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force that revealed this specific wrinkle of the Horsemen mythos (in “The Dark Angel Saga,” #10-18, 2011).

Related:

Hickman X-Men Reading Order

Krakin’ Krakoa!

More in this series!

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The Old 52: Morrison’s Batman Incorporated Pt. 2

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On February 25th, 2013, the New York Times arts desk column exclusively revealed that Damian Wayne would meet his untimely death at the end of Batman Incorporated #8, a story which naturally spread like wildfire among sites like IGN, ComicsAlliance, and Newsarama. DC then announced that throughout March 2013, the Bat-titles would take part in a month-long event called Requiem, with each issue adorned with an ‘R’ logo in tribute to the fallen Bat-family member. It was now clear why the second volume of Batman Incorporated was in-canon; DC wanted a news story and a sales boost. [Read more…] about The Old 52: Morrison’s Batman Incorporated Pt. 2