Sort of justifies all of that Infinity Gauntlet nonsense, doesn’t it?

Despite being based on the basic role-reversal story of many alternate reality epics (Mirror Mirror anyone?), I am loving this.  Mar-Vell of the Cancerverse as the great enemy, counterpart to Quasar as Protector of the Universe, to Adam Magus as the Avatar of Life, and of course to his late native self.  I wonder if the Skrull Mar-Vell will appear in here anywhere, just to complete the hat-trick?

I don’t know if anyone else felt this way, but did Mar-Vell actually kill Adam Magus?  That was quick, and rather disappointing to be honest. Mar-Vell’s comments rather gave the impression that this incarnation of the Magus was dispatched, which obviously opens the door for Warlock’s return.  Hopefully after all this storyline is over however, I want to see how the universe fares without Adam pulling the strings.

One other character I want to watch is that of Medusa, who has suddenly been promoted. I have loved our lovely-locked Inhuman queen ever since she was a member of the Fantastic Four, but talk about a stratospheric rise! I remember the days when the worst she had to worry about was a rogue Doombot, or edicts from the Genetics Council, and now she is steering two (count them, two) stellar empires and rubbing shoulders (eventually) with Thanos himself.  Not even Reed, for all of his adventures and scientific brilliance has had that opportunity.

Still, I’m waiting for the nervous breakdown, which Medusa desperately needs.  Though haughty, she has never been the uber-bitch that she has become, and I’m wondering if the new personality is nothing more than a coping strategy. It certainly doesn’t suit her, and all semblance of nobility seems to have vanished.  Even when she was manipulating her younger sister Crystal to the royal agenda, she still had a touch of, dare I say it, humanity?  At least empathy. That was when she also had her husband to lean against, to share those innermost feelings.  Now she has no-one. Who would you suggest? Karnak? The man who sees everyone’s failings? Or maybe Gorgon, whom she dare not tell half of what she has done, in fear of his temper.  Or maybe Maximus? Nuff said there!

This story promises to be a lot bigger than just six issues can contain. Disavowing the advance listings, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the Thanos Imperative is but Act One of a saga. It’s time the cosmic touched Earth again.

Plus wouldn’t Medusa have a laugh at the United Nations nowadays?!?!

Hulk #21

Busy week this week. Green Arrow has gone rogue, New Krypton is falling under the assault of Brainiac, Namorita is alive again (sort of) and Spider Man is given a taste of godhood even greater than when he wore the mantle of Captain Universe. Oh, and Namorita is not the only one, Thanos is back.

Let me take this point-by-point. Although the slaying of Prometheus by Green Arrow in the wake of Justice League: Cry For Justice is a logical progression of the story, haven’t we been here before? Green Arrow considered dangerous and on the run from his comrades?

It’s not new to have a hero on the run, pursued by former allies and the forces of the law (although the law has yet to get involved in Oliver’s pursuit, maybe the League want to police themselves). It is a little newer for said hero to actually be guilty of whatever they have been accused of I suppose, but not tremendously so. What a disappointing consequence to what was actually an excellent series. Now we also have Red Arrow/ Speedy I (erm, II if you add in the pre Crisis On Infinite Earths continuity) crippled, and obviously going to receive some form of cyborg arm in the near future. (It would be nice to see Roy gain some form of mystical healing instead, and send him into the weird area of the DCU. After all, with his chequered past, his interaction with Checkmate and other agencies and a new hook for readers, I can see the potential for a hit series with the right writer).

Meanwhile, the second (or third) Speedy is poised to take a moral descent herself, with an arrow pointing at the Electrocutioner’s head.

I still think we have been here before. This is not what I pay my bucks for people!

In contrast, the Last Stand Of New Krypton is wrapping up many of the plotlines hovering in the background of the DCU for the past few years, from the machinations to war by both General Zod and General Sam Lane, to just what the Legion Espionage Squad is doing embedded in the beginning of the twenty-first century, to just what Luthor has been doing since his escape. This is sheer spandex drama at it’s finest.

The most comparable event to this is the Fall Of The Hulks, which we are seeing unfold before our eyes in a most chaotic fashion. I highly recommend that, but don’t expect it to make sense just yet, every reveal just causes more questions, never mind figuring out where this crossover sits in relation to the other big events like Siege.

Ooo, Siege. I’m not saying a word, except I really enjoyed #3, and #4 looks incredibly promising. Not the ending I was expected, but that is good. It’s too early to issue a spoiler on that one. Or on Green Lantern Corps #47, but that also had a nice twist I was not expecting (although in retrospect that was more my bad memory than a dramatic twist).

Now the lead up to Realm Of Kings continued in Nova #35 and Guardians of the Galaxy #24. The conclusion of the Sphinx storyline in Nova was okay I suppose, but then I am often disappointed with Sphinx stories in the last decade or so. Anath Na-Mut is a character that has so much potential, but he is frequently reduced to a two-dimensional villain, as he is eventually here. The resurrection of Namorita we could see a mile off, I only hope that this is some nasty effect of the Fault, and she is actually some soul eating beastie. I used to like Namorita, but this rebirth simply feels cheap.

The Guardians issue is far more promising, as the cocoon on Sacrosanct is opened to reveal Thanos as the newest Avatar of Death. One question here, what is Oblivion doing, selecting the Avatar of Death? Isn’t that Death’s job? Doesn’t Oblivion have avatars of his own?

My final recommendation is Spider-Man and the Secret Wars #4, a fascinating if disjointed tale, set just as Doom claimed the power of the Beyonder. It doesn’t really add a great deal to the continuity, it’s simply a fun romp.

Guardians Of The Galaxy #22

I’m wondering just how big the Realm Of Kings is supposed to be, when it finally arrives. In this week’s Guardians Of The Galaxy #22 we will see the birth (or not) of a dark god that impregnated itself within Moondragon and is welcomed by the Universal Church of Truth. (So finally Moonie becomes the Celestial Madonna as she always wanted, only to discover it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.)

We saw last week in Realm Of Kings Imperial Guard, Quasar loose in the Fault, yet hasn’t he already reached Earth? Or at least a version of him with scary eyes did, currently mooching around Project Pegasus.

Then we have the weird Leviathan organisation in Secret Warriors, and of course in the endlessly repeated prologue of Fantastic Four #575 we have chaos in the underworlds. The Old Ones awakening perhaps?

I doubt it, but then again it would be nice. If nothing else Marvel has proved that it can do interlinked story-lines with the recent few years of offerings, that from an editorial perspective are up there with the first and greatest of them all, Crisis On Infinite Earths.

However, Realm Of Kings could offer a great enough threat to finally reunite the Marvel Universe and restore the status quo. After all, there are still a lot of grudges and feuds remaining after the events of Civil War, Secret Invasion et al; and there is nothing like the risk of everything being wiped out to erase such meddlesome distractions.

Still, in the meantime, we have Siege to get through, which is shaping up to be a more interesting story than I first gave it credit for. And dawning over the horizon is coming the Heroic Age , a new direction for Marvel as it casts aside al the darkness of the past few years.

Hmmm. Cast away the darkness? Just as The Fault opens the universe to another where life has won, death is vanquished, and cancerous gods look for new space to expand into?

Yeah. Good timing, that!

Guardians of the Galaxy #20

Guardians of the Galaxy #20 this week hinted at what I hoped to see the direction that Realm Of Kings is going in, and it looks like we shall receive the best of both worlds. Primarily focused on character development, the issue shows hints that the Magus is not as dead as the Guardians would like to see (which can only be a good, erm, I mean bad thing), and the Lovecraftian menace from the universe the other sidfe of the Fault makes its presence felt on Knowhere.

I don’t think I have mentioned just how much I adore the idea of Knowhere, the head of a decapitated Celestial containing the Continuum Cortex, the organ with which the former Celestial remained in telepathic contact with his brethren across time and the Multiverse. It is sort of a mix between the Nexus Of All Realities and the DCU’s Vanishing Point. It floats near the ‘end of the universe’ and all different species from all different points in space and time come to Knowhere to study and observe the end of the universe from the closest accessible structure.

With this, and the recent addition of the Infinite Avengers Mansion, the scope of the Marvel Heroes seems to have vastly increased. This is a welcome relief from the darkness of what’s going on on Earth currently, I have even found myself turning to Deadpool for some light relief. Still I cannot criticise the Dark Reign at all, it is spotlighting characters that otherwise would have languished in obscurity (such as Ghost in the Thunderbolts) and is making me hungry to see the overthrow of Norman Osbourn. However it is nice to take a break from it.

Looking at the other side of the fence, Blackest Night #5 picks up the pace of DC’s crossover event, with an ending that rather took me by surprise, although I rather think we can see how Bruce Wayne will be returning from the dead. I dearly hope I am wrong here, I would like to see him remain dead for a good few years yet. After all, we know he will return, that’s a when more than an if.

If anything should bring Batman back, it should be Darkseid. After all, whoever is slain by Darkseid’s Omega beams can be resurrected by the very same. Then again, the Dark God is dead, although we have not seen anything of the new Kamandi’s world where the New Gods are apparently reborn. If New Genesis is there, Darkseid cannot be that far behind.

However, the recent Outsiders crossover with Blackest Night has made me wonder. Just how much does Nekron control his zombies? The behaviour of the Black Ring bearing terra has made me wonder. She turns up all repentant and upset, not driven by the urge to consume hearts and emotional power from the team, but asking for their help! Is she merely preparing her food so that when she finally feasts, the betrayal is that much stronger? Terra is a mistress of manipulation, but that just seems way too obvious for me. Then again, the younger readers will not necessarily have seen that side of her personality, maybe the writers think we need a refresher course?

Realm Of Kings #1

If like me, you have enjoyed movies such as In The Mouth Of Madness and Dagon; then you are probably familiar with the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Despite the difficulty in actually getting hold of one of his books, Lovecraft is well known for the cosmology that has influenced modern day writers in science fiction and fantasy, from the works of Grant Morrison to even appearing in Virgin’s New Adventures Of Doctor Who (in White Heat for example). He painted a hostile universe, where the gods only exist to prey upon mortals, and leave the sanity of their worshippers in tatters if they catch but a glimpse of whom they serve.

A truly dog-eat-dog model of the universe, it is a dark and nihilistic universe, that leaves a stain on your soul the more exposure to it you receive. A stain that is strangely seductive, we keep watching the movies, reading the books and their offshoots, and we demand quality stories from them.

H.P. Lovecraft’s writing style is one that cannot be repeated. It is wordy, adjective heavy, and to attempt to copy his style will only ever produce a cheap copy, that produces a sensation of nails scratching down a chalkboard louder than an idiot-god’s burbling. Yet it is the content that was and remains his strength, and it is a challenge for a writer to convey that sense of everything you hold dear being undermined and perverted.

Why do we like this stuff? I have no idea, but we know it takes more than a preponderance of unpronounceable multi-syllable names to generate a story that will reawaken that stain.

Finally, Marvel have done this, with Realm Of Kings #1 from last week. Previous attempts, such as the obvious homage of Shuma-Gorath, as seen in the second volume of Strange Tales, have not reached the heights delivered to us by the capable hands of Dan Abnett. His darker twist on science fiction in comics is one I have always enjoyed (I highly recommend you to pick up his The Legion series as a perfect example) and the Marvel Cosmic has produced some excellent stories these past few years with his contributions.

Now to the plot. Former Protector Of The Universe Quasar travels through the Fault to explore what is at the other end, and encounters a universe fallen to the Elder Gods, and a team of Avengers in service to the Many-Angled Ones. The whole concept of angles is prevalent in Lovecraft, and you can see echoes of this in the Hellraiser mythos as well. Ever had an attic bedroom with a sloping roof? Not after you’ve read Lovecraft you won’t. But to see what has become of some of characters under such powers was a true surprise, and that is one of Abnett’s gifts. He actually made me exclaim out loud, when I realised the fate of one Marvel mainstay.

So, scared down to his very soul and now once more flesh and blood, Quasar has returned with dire warnings of doom. Still, his new body was created in the diseased universe, can it be trusted?

As much as I like Wendell, I imagine not. With infections like the Creed Of Flesh of the Marvel Zombies, or the technorganic plague that has raised its head once more in X-Necrosha, do we really need a new earth-threatening infection running around the mainstream earth?

Oh hell, yes!

Realm Of Kings:Inhumans #1 was quite the disappointment in comparison, but if the one-off special is anything to go by, then I will follow these mini-series religiously. The demise of the Magus is now forgiven, this is far more exciting. However, reading the solicitations for today, I’m not sure the Guardians Of The Galaxy have seen the last of him.

Realm Of Kings does not seem to have a definite structure yet, we cannot even be sure that the Many-Angled Ones are the threat. We have seen Mindless Ones, Monarch Starstalker and of course the Magus. The potential is limitless, and I find myself hoping the Fault will be around for a few more years to come. Realm Of Kings may well be just the story of Vulcan and Black Bolt, conspicuous by their absence so far. Six issues are surely not enough to deal with the rest of what’s out there.

Cthulhu Fhtagn!

Guardians Of The Galaxy #19

I was going to title today’s column ‘Pointless Comics Books’ after reading the finale of The Last Days Of Animal Man. I said before how much I like Buddy Baker, but after reading all six issues, I feel cheated. Gerry Conway, pleasant as his writing is, is no Grant Morrison, so the appearance of the yellow aliens (who I would like to see more of) did nothing to satisfy me, or give me a reason why I have bought the entire series.

However, Blackest Night has continued apace, enough for me to forgive DC. In the conclusion of Blackest Night Titans, we have seen it’s not just the assembled corps of the emotional spectrum that can conquer the Black Rings, but also Dove (formerly of Hawk and Dove, erm, twice) has access to a power that is equally as devastating to the Black Corps. This is not without precedent either, after her role in the downfall of Extant back in JSA a few years ago.

What has really blown me away however is the latest Guardians Of The Galaxy, and the culmination of the Adam Warlock/Magus storyline. Despite the previous issue seeming a little tenuous, the conclusion more than justified the arc with a big story. One surviving Time Keeper; Kang leading an army of Starhawks (with a cute little aside between him and Mantis); a Cosmic Cube and Phyla Vell / Martyr (yes, it’s a silly name) receiving her comeuppance.

Looks like I was right the first time when I observed the Magus will not be featuring in the Realm Of Kings storyline. I should be disappointed, but after this issue, I’m not. We all know that Adam Warlock will be reborn, and thus so will the threat of the Magus, but that is in the future.

I also like how it is left open that Phyla-Vell may have got everything horribly wrong. The Champion of Life has been defined as the Magus (as he opposed Thanos in his own timeline) as well as Warlock. Maybe she killed the wrong guy. Still, it’s all moot now.

Guardians of the Galaxy #17 Cover

I have to eat my words.

I haven’t read any of this weeks comics yet, but I have caught up with what I missed last week. Specifically the latest issues of Nova and Guardians Of The Galaxy, among others.

What did I say about no clear ending to the War Of Kings? Well, for me, that ending was reached in GOTG #17. Since it has been on the stands for a week, I think I am free to reveal that…….

The Magus is back. With the full force of the Universal Church of Truth behind him. Now that is a biggie, and one that I really look forward to echoing around the universe.

We see how the legacy of Mar-Vell has sunk to even greater depths, and Phyla-Vell reveals just what her bargain with Oblivion was, when she rescued her lover Moondragon. I think Phyla here far outshines Moonie in terms of heartlessness. She slays Adam Warlock mere seconds after he contains the Fault, revealing that she was told to slay the avatar of life, and she would know when to act.

Meanwhile, the great Cosmic Fault is prevented from expanding, but is not in the slightest sealed. Half of the team is trapped in a future seconds away from destruction, a future that is no longer the future of the Marvel universe, as it has been replaced with a timeline that nobody was using.

The timeline of the Magus.

Now this is what I wanted to see, and I think it deserved a special all of its own, rather than being tucked away in the GOTG title. This is the real consequence of the War Of Kings, and promises far grander stories in the future. In fact, this one event justifies the excellent build up that the War provided.

Just like elements of the Kingdom Come storyline have crept into the JSA over in the DC universe, here is another example of a long abandoned alternate future creeping back into continuity. This is a good choice as well, and I think Dan Abnett et al are the perfect creative team to pull this off.

For an older comics fan like myself, this is a total geekgasm.

On an incidental note? Pick up last weeks Fantastic Four if you haven’t already, there looks to be some good developments there. It looks to me like Reed is about to take over the world. Still, if anyone ca wrest control away from Norman Osbourne, Reed is the man.