New Avengers: Illuminati

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis and Brian Reed

Art: Jim Cheung

Issues: Illuminati #1-5

I have been waiting for this book forever.  There are times that I regret waiting for the trades.  I’m impatient, but I definitely prefer reading the whole arc at once.  I have loved the concept of the Illuminati since their first appearance in New Avengers.  Marvel’s strongest characters banding together to take on monumental tasks.  Pretty cool stuff.  However, I was slightly disappointed by their actual miniseries.  That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book, but I had it built up far more in my head, and the big revelation at the end had already been spoiled for me.

The Illuminati team is made up of six of Marvel’s strongest characters, each representing another team in this sort of meta-team.  Charles Xavier represents the X-men, Reed Richards is here for the Fantastic Four, Namor for Atlantis, Black Bolt for the Inhumans, Iron Man for the Avengers, and Dr. Strange representing all the magic users in the Marvel Universe.  The team first gathered together after the Kree-Skrull War, to determine how to safeguard Earth so such an event never happens again.  This mini-series shows their decision: Travel to the Skrull homeworld, make some threats, and blow up the Skrull emperor’s ship.

Keep reading!

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Thunderbolts: Faith in Monsters

Writer: Warren Ellis

Artist: Mike Deodato, Jr.

Issues: Thunderbolts #110-115, Thunderbolts Special

What is it about villains that we find intriguing in fiction?  Darth Vader.  Sauron.  The evil aliens from Independence Day.  Is it wrong that I was secretly rooting for each of them?  That must be the basis for Thunderbolts, a team of reformed super villains fighting crime, etc.  This is the first trade I’ve read of Thunderbolts, and really enjoyed it.  Set in post-Civil War Marvel America, the Thunderbolts are under new guidance, Norman Osborne and the United States government, and are tasked with tracking down unregistered heroes.

Even without knowing the detailed history of the Thunderbolts team, the book was very enjoyable.  From what I understand, much of the line-up is new, including Daredevil’s nemesis Bullseye and the new Venom.  Character development isn’t a huge part of the plot, it really is more about the situation than the characters.  They have been sanctioned by the government to brutally take down unregistered combatants.  It shows how they make the fights look worse than they really are, to show that the person being brought to justice was a threat, even though the real threat is having a team of insane villains working with government sanctions.  These people have been made into celebrities by the media, having shows and toys where the enemy is Captain America and his crew.  One can’t help but wonder what will happen when the political currents change and they are no longer needed as heroes, how will they react?

I really enjoyed this book.  If you enjoyed Civil War, I’m positive you’ll like this examination of where Marvel is going.  Until next time, folks.  Keep waiting for those trades.

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The Amazing Spider-man Volume 8: Sins Past

Writer: J. Michael Straczynski

Artist: Mike Deodato, Jr.

Issues: The Amazing Spider-man #509-514

This is the trade that I wanted to read when I started reading Straczynski’s run on Amazing Spider-man.  I’d read about what happens in it, really wanted to read it, but got myself convinced that I should read the seven volumes before.  So for the past few months, I’ve been slowly getting caught up on Peter Parker’s adventures.  I’ve been satisfied with what’s gone on up to now, but not blown away.  Straczynski’s writing is great, his dialogue is dead on, but some of the villains were boring for my taste, and too much on the supernatural side.  But then came the Sins Past storyline, and I am in love with Spider-man once again.  I’m choosing to ignore Mephisto’s appearance in current issues, preventing him from ruining my reading past issues.

Sins Past revolves around a pair of villains confronting Spider-man, threatening his family, and trying to wipe him off the face of the earth.  Pretty standard villainry, actually.  They feel Spider-man has wronged them and are questing to make things right.  I tinkered with the idea of keeping this spoiler free, but since these were published years ago, I’m not going to worry about it.

My spider-sense says you should keep reading…

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Exiles Volume 6: Fantastic Voyage

Writer: Judd Winick

Artist: Jim Calafiore

Issues: Exiles #31-37

How to express my love for Exiles?  Is it the dimension hopping?  Is it the wide array of alternate universes?  Is it the surprisingly well developed characters?  It’s all of it.

I have long felt that the best way to get to know a fictional universe is to see it through a skewed mirror.  I got into Marvel right about the time the House of M trades came out.  Seeing the world dominated by mutants and humanity as a minority was a great way for me to start my plung into the deep, dark hole of comics.  The characters are not in their native environment, and they seem to shine all the greater with a new set of rules.

Exiles sends its team of six displaced heroes from a variety of different versions of Marvel into other different versions of Marvel.  They are in a particular alternate universe for 2 to 4 issues and then move on.  This allows these worlds to come into better focus than the What If? storylines, but prevents them from becoming too large, as some argue the case for House of M to be.  These different worlds have varied from a world where the Phalanx Covenant merged with the Legacy Virus to wipe out the majority of the world’s population, to a world where Tony Stark has taken over the world and has his sights set on the rest of the galaxy.  Some of the universes can be a bit boring, something like Xavier is a villain and Magneto is mutant-kind’s savior, but on the whole, it’s great to see a variety of worlds where anything can happen.  Magneto can destroy the world, because it isn’t Earth 616 and there isn’t continuity to worry about.  It’s just fun, over the top action and characters out of their element.

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Nova Vol. 1: Annihilation - Conquest

Writer: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

Artist: Sean Chen

Issues: Nova #1-7

When I read the Annihilation event, in three awesome hardbound editions, I had just gotten my feet wet in the Marvel universe. Most of what I had read was on Earth and I had little to no knowledge of the greater universe. All of that changed with Annihilation, which reintroduced all the galactic elements that Marvel hadn’t used in years. Annihilation saw the rise of the Negative Zone villain Annihilus, and his bid to conquer the universe. He was saved by a ragtag bunch of aliens and heroes. But the peace wasn’t to last.

No, this isn’t Star Wars.

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