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?!?!

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!

So the War Of Kings is finally over. Black Bolt and Vulcan may be dead, Gladiator may well be declared Majestor of the Shi’Ar and peace across the galaxy seems to have been aquired, merely for the price of a giant tear in space time, parsecs across.

Just what we had been warned about in the excellent Guardians of the Galaxy series.

Now as part of the cosmic uber-story, War Of Kings is an excellent instalment. However, as a final issue of a six issue mini, well, I for one was disappointed. Too much action, not enough exposition, and I could tell how it was going to end a few pages in. This seems to have been a bad habit of Marvel with their crossovers nowadays, they don’t end. The Infinity Trilogy ended. However Civil War seemed to have sacrificed an ending for the ramifications.

Admittedly, the Infinity Trilogy had few ramifications, but they were self contained. War Of Kings left me unsatisfied. I would have wanted more anyway, I’m a sucker for this stuff, but I feel like there was no conclusion whatsoever. Yeah, Black Bolt beat Vulcan, sort of, though I imagine it won’t be long before either of them are seen again. But so far there are no Inhuman series or Starjammers series advertised that I have seen, so where do we get our conclusion?

On another level, this morning I was reading about Image United, a 6-issue series written by Kirkman and featuring the art and characters of Image founders Erik Larsen, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. Where each artist will draw not entire pages or issues, but simply their own characters in an artistic jam.

While a nice idea, it may be jarring to the eye, but I am looking forward to this. The Image universe has long resisted any semblance of unity. Hell, that was what the whole Shattered Image mini was about all those years ago. (Well worth digging out of the back issue bins by the way.)

I hope the story will be compelling though, else I think I would very quickly lose patience with it. I never thought I would say this, but I could soon be suffering from crossover fatigue.

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.