State of the Multiverse 6

Friday, Jul. 31 2009 | Author: darrren

War Of Kings Ascension #4 Cover
Have you been reading the War Of Kings?

So much attention has been paid to the Blackest Night and it’s prequel the Sinestro Corps War, that it has been easy to forget that Marvel have also been having a big cosmic crossover. And it rocks.

I’ve been as guilty as anyone, I admit. However I started reading comics with Marvel, and I have been blown away with their recent space sagas. Both Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest, great epics on their own, have set the scene for the current War Of Kings. And let’s face it, everyone who is anyone on the cosmic scene has been in these, even the most obscure of characters, from Paibok the Power Skrull to Stellaris the Celestial Slayer.

We’ve seen the Inhumans finally grasp the destiny for which they were designed, as the Royal Family adopt the Kree Empire as their ward. The third Summers brother Vulcan launches the Shi’ar into an expansionist phase, and the new Guardians Of The Galaxy stuck in the middle.

(SPOILER ALERT – READ NO FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE SERIES BUT PLAN TO.)

Lilandra has now been assassinated. And the culprit Darkhawk.

I have always liked Lilandra, and this one will echo for years if she stays dead, there seems to be nobody to take her place. I for one will miss her.

As for Darkhawk, I always thought he was a character with a lot of potential, and in the capable hands of Dan Abnett this has been realised. This week we have seen the final issue of War Of Kings: Ascension, and Dan has managed to completely revamp the character without contradicting any of his previous history. Christopher Powell has now had the ‘Nova-treatment’ and is finally a force to be reckoned with.

Elsewhere in the MU, Doctor Doom has had a great increase of power, in a story that many may have missed, what with Dark Reign and the War Of Kings hogging the spotlight. Spiralling out of the Marvel 1985 series (and somewhat justifying it), he was apparently slain by the Marquis Of Death, a future version of Clyde Wyncham, the reality altering first mutant of an alternate earth, sent back to the time of the dinosaurs and worked his way forward again step by step. Considering the next issue of the FF continues on from their Dark Reign mini, I hope we will see more of this new uber-Doom. After all, Norman Osbourne will not know how much his ally has changed.

So there’s my recommendations for this week – War Of Kings:Ascension #4 and Fantastic Four #569.