Are the Martians coming?

So, despite the fact that the real Captain America has been wandering around the Marvel Universe for a couple of months now, this week has finally seen the conclusion of the Captain America Reborn mini, and it had everything that we could ask for. Wrap-around cover, the Red Skull possessing a giant robot body, an army of baby M.O.D.O.K.s….

I mean, who can argue with an army of baby M.O.D.O.K.s?

Right, fan-boy gushing aside, there was little in this series that grabbed me. After about the second or third issue the story was predictable, and so all I was waiting for was the series to conclude. And is it me, or was it very very late?

I’ve come to expect from a story at least a few elements of what is featured on the cover. Now I appreciate this would have been a big story had it shipped on a reasonable schedule and the cover is highly symbolic, but I would have preferred a cover that didn’t feature practically everybody.

There were a few nice touches, such as Sin being hideously disfigured like her father. (Euwwww, that is not a thing to call a nice touch!)

Even more enticing was the vision of the War Of The Worlds type scenario, with giant tripods walking through the ruins of New York. Only these tripods look more like something that would come out of the Fault.

Maybe my hopes for the Realm Of Kings storyline reaching earth will come true after all.

Ever since I read the original Guardians Of The Galaxy, or maybe even dating back to the ancient days of Amazing Adventures, I have always wanted to read a skilfully executed version of the Martians invading the Marvel earth. Unfortunately the GOTG never provided that, the best I can think of is actually the Wisdom mini-series, but that invasion was cut short. (And of course, the Martians first strike in that series was where it should be, London.)

Does this one panel make up for a rather lacklustre series? No, but it does whet my appetite for what comes next.

I read somewhere that Batman is also bouncing through time. Well considering he was killed in a space-time well caused by Darkseid’s descent and should really have been resurrected alongside the rest of the universe by Superman’s use of the Miracle Machine at the culmination of Final Crisis, I suppose that makes sense. More sense than a chronal bullet in an assassination attempt. Let’s hope the return of the Bat is a little more spectacular than Cap’s.

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!

X-Necrosha The Gathering One-Shot

Now this is a week where I wish the major companies had sorted out their digital offerings, as my bank manager would balk at this weeks delivery.

Nation X starts this week, as part of the X-Necrosha crossover, joined by X-Necrosha: Gathering One Shot. And the regular issue of Deadpool.

Realm Of Kings is being a little more gentle, with only the second issue of Imperial Guard.

Zombie Watch is also busy this week, with Blackest Night crossovers in Adventure Comics #5, Booster Gold #27, Doom Patrol #5 and REBELS #11.

Ouch.

Of course, this is not counting the various Dark Reign themed tie-ins. Now don’t get me wrong, on a story level I am loving these, and it is only natural that to Big Two compete with respective crossovers of their own. But three crossovers, just at one company? That’s too much.

Now as fans we have admired the connections between titles for years. It was that very web of associations that attracted me to comics in the first place, but boy, do I miss the era of single issue stories. It’s tempting to defect totally to the Marvel Adventures line.

I remember in the mid-nineties when I ran my own shop the cost of paper spiralled some 300% in an unbelievably short period of time. Environmental considerations aside, this is an expensive hobby.

I’ve often thought that the very ‘shape’ of comics (like that of the study of history or politics) mirrors the form of the internet. In this new age of technology, surely those of us who wish to dispense with paper, or even just make room for an expanding family, deserve an alternative. Especially one that doesn’t break the bank, or criminalise someone. The comic companies have not yet followed the example of the RIAA or the MPAA with regards file-sharing, but it is only a matter of time. They need to realise that this would be a very profitable market. After all, we do we buy the comics?

We’re hooked, that’s why. Now if they offered digital product there’s lower production costs, no printing companies to pay, and nigh on infinite product.

Which would make it so much simpler to follow these huge crossovers.

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!

The idea of the X-babies meeting up with the characters of the late Star Comics is far better in concept than it is in execution. I should have known.

IDW's Doctor Who #5

Still, I have had my fill of ludicrousness with last weeks Marvel Zombies, so I am happy. Funnily enough, the reprint of Planet Terry’s first issue offered in X-Babies #2 as a back up strip was far more enjoyable than the story itself.

Realm Of Kings: Imperial Guard had a good start, even if the Guard were suddenly mysteriously at ease with following Gladiator’s Majestorship (oo, look, I made a word!). Nothing really happened in this issue, it was just a primer setting up the interpersonal politics and dropping the bombshell that a team is to probe into The Fault, alongside the Starjammers, who only appear on the final page. Still, it shows promise.

The only thing that surprised me in this issue is the characterisation of Hussar, who all of a sudden has revealed a kinder, more reasonable side to her personality. We’ve not seen that before, she had always seem to be cut from more bloodthirsty cloth.

But for my recommendation of the week, I’m going to depart from the Big Two, and look to IDW.

Now I have been a Whovian since I first learned to hide behind the sofa from pepperpots with sink-plungers sticking out of them. I followed the Doctors adventures when he was cast into the wilderness by the BBC and the license was picked up by Virgin. If you didn’t know, the eighth Doctor had quite the career in books and audio plays before the relaunch four years ago with Christopher Eccleston as the Time-Lord. I saw Gallifrey split into duplicates, and saw Faction Paradox learn how to break every law of time. You could say that on this I was a continuity buff, proudly wearing my anorak for no-one to see.

IDW’s Doctor Who series, now on its fifth issue brings together elements of both the original Doctor(s) and the relaunched version. In their current storyline, they have the Krillitane making a bid to dominate or overthrow the Shadow Proclamation with thelp of the rhino-headed Judoon, all newer elements; while the Sontarans, Draconians and the Ogrons are all caught in the crossfire. The latter two I don’t think we have seen since Jon Pertwee travelled the corridors of the Time Vortex.

In fact, the defeat of these other races at the hands of the Doctor in the past make them very unwilling allies in the current plot, and I love it. If you fondly remember the years of Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith (the first time around), then this is a series not to be missed.

Marvel Zombies Evil Evolution #1

Okay last week was not as slow as I initially thought, when at the bottom of my pile I discovered Marvel Zombies Vs Apes: Evil Evolution #1.

It was convoluted, one could say continuity heavy, composed from a facile idea, and wiped itself from continuity before the story had even ended.

I loved every single minute of it! Sheer idiotic genius. I think this weeks full-on return of Planet Terry in X-Babies #2 (they are not MY X-Babies!) will have to be a total masterpiece to compete in any fashion. I’m not going to hold my breath for that.

In fact the whole wiping from continuity thing doesn’t bother me at all, as I was horrified when at one point Monkey Speedball became infected. I really like Monkey Speedball, I liked his interactions with the Initiative, and I want to see a lot more of him. Hell, he may even be an essential ingredient in Robby Reeds rehabilitation one day, as I really don’t like what Marvel have done to him. I don’t want Penance (even though the plotline does make sense), I want my Speedball back! Still, if all I can have is a monkey, I can live with that for the time being.

Monkey-Speedball seems to me like a character that has serious potential, and captures me in a way that Howard the Duck never did. Then again, I like my comics to be fun, but not ludicrous, but that’s just personal taste. Less Bwah-ha-ha, and more of the odd chuckle.

Geek moment here. I say the wiping from continuity thing doesn’t bother me, except for the fact that it flies in the face of how time and dimension travel works in the Marvel Universe. Just as we saw the Zombie-world trapped in a loop at the end of Marvel Zombies Return, (not that that really adheres to the rules either, after all, where did the infection come from?), that loop has now been broken. The early part of the story can be considered to be the alternate reality (Zombie-Ape world, which is still out there) and the time-travel revision returns us to what is considered to be the mainstream Earth(s) of Earth 616, Zombie World and Ape-World. So the infection is still out there and travelling in the Multiverse. Due to its all-consuming nature, we shall see more of it.

And if you take the recent struggle against the Magus dominating all the timelines as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy as a precedent, then surely Kang or Immortus would need to take action. Or are we to have a zombie Time-Keeper?

What to watch out for this week? Realm Of Kings:Imperial Guard is out, continuing the story from the recent special. I like the way these characters have been treated in the new Cosmic Marvel, their three issue mini several years ago did nothing to satisfy me. They have grown far beyond mere Legion rip-offs, and I think this series will prove it.

X-Force #1 continues the X-Necrosha storyline (more zombies – YAY!), and REBELS #10 with the struggle against Starro. Both of these I am looking forward to immensely.

Oh, and did I mention the X-Babies?

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.

Realm Of Kings Advert

Tomorrow sees the release of Guardians Of The Galaxy and Nova, as we begin the build-up to the Realm Of Kings event. Excited about the return of the Magus, I went back to read his first appearance back in Strange Tales Volume 1 #178 – 181, and I aim to read the rest of story in Warlock #9-15 later. These were reprinted shortly after the time of the Infinity Gauntlet if I recall correctly as the Original Warlock, so you should be able to find the back issues cheap.

Back in the War Of Kings, Phyla-Vell was instructed to slay the Champion of Life at the precise moment she became aware of his identity, and thus was born Adam Magus. The original Magus too was destined to be the Champion of Life, engineered by Master Order and Lord Chaos to battle Thanos, the worshipper of Death.

Thus was Jim Starlins original story, full of big concepts and grandiose titles, seventies sci-fi at its metaphysical best. But our characters have grown since then, Thanos abandoned his love of death, only to finally receive her embrace back in Annihilation. The Magus was the champion of Oblivion when he faced Genis Vell in Peter Davids excellent Captain Marvel series. The one thing you can guarantee is the incestuous nature of the Magus history, born by the actions of the woman whose brother and father were his sworn enemies.

And of course, there is the soul fragment called the Magus who now exists as a phantom in the Soul Gem, it’s whereabouts last seen in Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers. Of course the Magus of the Infinity War was merely that, a subconscious fragment, and has no bearing or relation to the original Magus or this new Adam Magus, who may or may not be the same being. In fact by birth, they are the same being, they all are, but in a universe where the timeline diverges at eth drop of a sonic screwdriver, who’s to say if they remain the same being or not.

So where could this lead? The Thanosi, clones of Thanos created to pursue his agenda way back when, believe themselves to be followers of Death, or at least a warped view of her. Who now will be the Champion of Life? Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.

Personally, my money is on Rocket Raccoon!