marvel comics reviews
The chaos of the Secret Wars event seems to be over in most of the Marvel Universe, and the new status quo is being established. I don’t get a lot of Marvel titles, so I don’t quite know what’s going on in all of this. It would appear that the “main” Marvel Earth and that of the Ultimates merged, kind of like after the Crisis on Infinite Earths over in DC back in the 80’s. I don’t know why Peter Parker is head of a big company now, but that seems to be the case.
Ever have one of those days where you just can’t catch a break? That seems to be what Han Solo is going through the last few issues. He and Leia’s mission has gone horribly badly. They have been shot at by Imperials, barely made it to the surface of a virtually unknown world, and then been confronted by a bounty hunter. To make it worse for Han, the bounty hunter, Sana, is referring to herself as a Han’s wife. Han disagrees with this, but it’s definitely not improving his relationship with Leia. The relentless pursuit by the Imperials isn’t making anything any better, either.
The latest in a series of one-shots celebrating the 50th anniversary of SHIELD, The Cavalry features Agent Melinda May, one of the most popular characters from the Agents of SHIELD tv show. While other characters have problems reconciling their Marvel Comics and Cinematic Universe versions, May was created for the tv show, so she doesn’t have a long backstory to try and tiptoe around. She’s an amazing badass who is a lot of fun to watch, either onscreen or on the page.
Celebrating 50 years of SHIELD, Marvel’s premier spy organization, they have released a series of one shot specials. The two before this were about Quake (Daisy/Skye on the Agents of SHIELD tv show), and Mockingbird/Barbara Morse. This one features Peggy Carter. Like most of the SHIELD-related comics over the last year or so, this tries to straddle the line between fitting the comics continuity but also not contradicting the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There’s an old saying about if you chase rabbits, you will catch neither.
Our various separated heroes are continuing to have their runs of bad luck On Nar Shadda, Luke has to chase down the thief that made off with his lightsaber. Luke’s chase takes him through a series of good news/bad news adventures. He finally ends up a prisoner of a new foe who has a stunning collection that’s very much of interest to Luke. Unfortunately, his captor intends to add Luke to the collection. It’s not a good day to be an untrained Jedi.
The 2099 heroes wrap up their story on Battleworld. The combined might of the Avengers and Defenders are needed as a new foe arises, and he, in turn, calls in something nastier and uglier. In the grand tradition of hero team ups, the two groups have to put their differences aside to battle something far worse than they are. It’s an ugly fight.
In part of most Star Wars stories, there comes a point when the heroes are separated and things aren’t going great for them. This seems to be about that point. Luke, having concluded his adventure on Tatooine, is off to his next bit of chaos. Being a famous Rebel with a price on his head doesn’t make anything any easier when he tries to bargain passage to Coruscant amid the seedy bars of Nar Shaddaa. Remember his trip to the cantina in Mos Eisley? Yeah, about that good.
Cullen Bunn has been playing up the mystic side of Moon Knight, and doing a great job of it. He’s shown several different aspects of the relationship between Khonshu and Marc Spector, the Moon’s Knight. A god can have many faces, and his worshippers, their own interpretations.
The world is ending in the Marvel Universe, and their various titles are doing their “Last Days.” In this case, Ms. Marvel gets to meet her hero, Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel/Warbird/Captain Marvel), the heroine that inspired Kamala. They work together, trying to save who they can as the end comes closer.
The SHIELD comic has been mirroring the tv show to an extent, with greater or lesser success. Some of the issues have been great. Last month’s and this month’s, in my humble opinion, didn’t work as well. Trying to combine the tv and comic continuity is difficult, and sometimes nearly impossible. In this issue, Phil Coulson sends Melinda May and Mockingbird out after someone who is doing some horrific surgeries.
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