Marvel NOW! Again… So Marvel Now Redux. (Part Two)

Okay, let’s continue. It’s a pretty long list. Next up we have Doctor Strange. They shoved every typical Doctor Strange villain on this cover; and did a pretty cool job of it. Despite Shaman of Alpha Flight having the occasional appearance in this title; I’ve not been collecting this. I wasn’t a big fan of Jason Aaron’s run on Thor, so when I heard he was taking over Doctor Strange, I was not compelled to pick up the book (despite being a huge fan of the character, especially from his days as a part of the original Defenders team). The creative team on this is: • Doctor Strange #12 by Jason Aaron & Chris Bachalo

 

Now, because Marvel likes causing a little bit of confusion, there’s also apparently a Doctor Strange: Sorcerers Supreme where it’s Stephen Strange along with some other powerful magic users of the Marvel Universe. I recognize most; and I assumed the horned figure in the background is Santana, and not Magik. I may flip through this and take a look; the idea of these characters ripped from various time lines to save ours, sort of sounds like Secret Defenders (none of them were ripped from various time lines; just an odd collection of characters out to do secret missions). The creative team here is: • Doctor Strange: Sorcerers Supreme #1 by Robbie Thompson & Javier Rodriguez

The next one; I admit, I have my concerns. I have the first few issues of The Mighty Thor when it relaunched with Jane as the new Thor… and in this… by the looks of it, the Asgardians are going to fight the Shi’ar… and that also includes, by the looks of it, the Imperial Guard. Now if you know me, you know that I love me some Shi’ar and I love me some Imperial Guard; but, Jason Aaron (who isn’t a bad writer by any means, just not my type of writer that I enjoy), is going to be telling this story. I will undoubtedly, at least be flipping through this book to see how it looks and see how my beloved Shi’ar and Imperial Guard are being treated. Creative team on this title is: • The Mighty Thor #15 by Jason Aaron & Russell Dauterman

Speaking of Thor, and there being multiples, the “real” Thor (as in, born from Odin) and now going by The Unworthy Thor has a book where by the looks of it – he’s going to get a hold of the “hammer” that the Ultimates version of Thor used, which would be an interesting twist and allow both Thors to exist (because, you know there isn’t enough doubles of these characters running around). It’s a shame that they didn’t reverse this; give Jane this hammer and the actual Thor his own hammer. This way it aligns with what a new reader might expect to see (if they’re only reading comics because of the current movies). At any rate, Jason Aaron is writing this one – so, I probably won’t be getting this either. But art is by Coipel… that’s very difficult to turn down. Creative team is: • The Unworthy Thor #1 by Jason Aaron & Olivier Coipel

Next we have Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat… I’ve not been getting this because it looks like Marvel’s attempt at capturing the Selfie Batgirl crowd… and … is that Jubilee on the cover? Back in her original costume? And no longer a vampire? (She may have been cured? I am not even sure, as other than the current Uncanny X-Men, I stopped caring). At any rate, not a fan of the over all art (not bad, again, just not my style). The creative team here is: • Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat! #11 by Kate Leth & Brittney L. Williams

 

 

Black Widow continues, which I’ve not been reading. It’s funny; I have always liked her in a team book environment (Champions, Avengers), but I just can’t get into her as a solo book. The No More Secrets – I am not sure what that’s about – but seems to fall into line with what happened in the Marvel movies, where she released all that data for the entire world to consume. The creative team is Mark Waid & Chris Samnee writing and Chris Samnee on the art.

 

 

Next we have Moon Knight – and you can probably read Maico’s previous post of Comic Catch Up to see how much he’s enjoying Moon Knight. He’s hailing it as one of his favorite (Marvel) books out right now. I’ve missed the last few volumes of Moon Knight who keeps getting a good push (which he should, he’s an interesting character) – his original series was a little wonky (which I have all of, except for a few issues). So I won’t say much more about Moon Knight and let you read what Maico has been saying about the book! The creative team on this is: • Moon Knight #20 by Jeff Lemire & Greg Smallwood

 

The next one is The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and as I said before, I am not big into the art style, nor the story telling style. But a lot of people are enjoying the wonky story telling, odd art, and 4th wall breaking that’s become so insanely popular since Deadpool. Creative team on this is: • The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #16 by Ryan North & Erica Henderson

 

 

 

Going away from the lighthearted tone, to something much darker, we have Punisher. Now, I have always enjoyed Punisher when he shows up in a title; but my moment of honest (ironic, as I type this I am wearing my Punisher t-shirt) – the only Punisher title I ever picked up was the one that was supposed run four issues – but ended up running five issues, back in the 80’s. But for some reason, I have never followed the Punisher solo books. It’s not surprising to see Punisher with his own title; he has typically been a very popular character, and with his recent appearance in the Daredevil Netflix show; and the rumblings (I say that because I’ve not seen a release date for it) that Punisher will have his own show on Netflix, it’s no surprise Marvel would want to keep this book going! Creative team here is: • Punisher #7 by Becky Cloonan & Steve Dillon

All right, speaking of Daredevil let’s talk about the ongoing Daredevil series. Now, I dig Charles Soule as a writer; and I can’t honestly say why I never picked up this title, since he’s writing it, and I have enjoyed Daredevil (I have pretty good run of the original series), and enjoyed the Daredevil show on Netflix immensely. Well, speaking of the show getting a another season, there’s no doubt that Marvel is going to keep pushing this book (as they should!) while that series is continuing to do so well on NetFlix. Creative team on this book is Charles Soule and Ron Garney.

 

Right along with Daredevil and even the Netflix show of Daredevil, we see that Kingpin is also getting his own series. He’s already gotten a strong push through Civil War II: Kingpin. While Kingpin has always been a pretty popular character, I can’t help but feel that a large part of the current surge of interest is because of how his character is shown on the Daredevil Netflix series. So, again, all of this probably ties into the success of that show, and why Marvel is capitalizing on that success. While I love the comic (Daredevil), and I love the show (and how well Kingpin is written and acted), just as a solo character in a book? Not for me, but I don’t doubt that it might be pretty good. Just don’t have enough interest vested in the character to purchase his solo book. Creative team is: • Kingpin #1 by Matthew Rosenberg & Ben Torres

And moving along the lines of Daredevil and Kingpin – we have Bullseye getting his own solo series. Here’s another one where I have always liked when Bulleye appeared in a book; just not sure I could ever get into a solo book about him. It seems like it’d be a very difficult book to write; he’s either going to go after average Joes; or if he’s going after super heroes; seems to me he’d lose quite a bit of those fights (well, in terms of not being able to do what he does best; and that is kill someone with his accuracy). I typically enjoy books that focus on the villain; because you get to see them develop rather than show up, fight a hero and lose. I may flip through this and see where this book goes. Creative team is: • Bullseye #1 by Ed Brisson & Guillermo Sanna

The next one; I was disappointed. I have almost the entire run (after it became) Power Man & Iron Fist of the original series. When I heard that this was coming back; nostalgia was at epic proportions; only to find that I didn’t like the anime cartoon style that the book featured. Needless to say, I only got as far as the first issue. The creative team is: • Power Man & Iron Fist #10 by David Walker & Sanford Greene

 

 

 

First they made a young Power Man (with Victor Alvarez) and now they’re making a young, female, Asian Iron Fist too. It can’t be long until the two of them team up right? And here’s yet another duplicate hero in the Marvel Universe. It’s getting out of hand. Remember when all the characters were pretty much original? While I have always enjoyed Iron Fist, I simply can’t stand that there’s yet ANOTHER duplicated character in the Marvel Universe. So that already turns me off from this book, no matter how fantastic the story telling might be. The creative team here is: • Iron Fists #1 by Kaare Andrews & Afu Chan

 

Next in line is Totally Awesome Hulk which I never collected, I admit, based on the concept and title alone. Yet another duplicated hero. I really have nothing else to say about it, other than the creative team behind this book is: • The Totally Awesome Hulk #15 by Greg Pak & unnamed artist

 

 

 

 

The Unbelievable Gwenpool is yet another book that I simply never had interest in. She’s a Deadpool knock off (obviously). And while I have never looked into it because I never cared, but I assume it’s some time displaced alternate reality whatever Gwen Stacy. I don’t care to know if I am right or not. Creative team here is: • The Unbelievable Gwenpool #7 by Christopher Hastings & Gurihiru

 

 

 

Next up we have Uncanny Inhumans, also written by Charles Soule (who I said I typically enjoy). However, I’ve never been a big fan of the Inhumans; I dig when they show up in other books but never as a solo type series. Creative team is: • Uncanny Inhumans #15 by Charles Soule & Kev Walker

 

 

 

 

Next we have a new character called Mosaic who gets his own title. I know nothing about this character. Actually, don’t care to know anything about this character. I feel like Marvel has a treasure trove of characters; and they keep producing new characters, trying to find the next big thing with these characters, rather than digging in their vast pool of characters to tell a story. Creative team is: • Mosaic #1 by Geoffrey Thorne & Khary Randolph

 

 

Never picked up Ms. Marvel (the current series), because I felt like it was a gimmick that Marvel was hoping would catch on big. It’s unfair, because, yes they might be telling fantastic stories; but I am sick and tired of Marvel’s constant gimmick attempts, that I won’t even touch a book that gives any hint of that. I know a lot of people have enjoyed her book; and I am glad it’s still going for those folks. It’s just not for me. Creative team is: • Ms. Marvel #12 by G. Willow Wilson & Takeshi Miyazawa

 

 

Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur. This one was doomed from the start for me. As I said above, I dislike gimmicks. There was a Moon Boy & Devil Dinosaur; and to be more diverse, Marvel did away with Moon Boy and replaced it by a woman – but hold on! – to be even more diverse, she’s a young, African American girl. I have had several people tell me (repeatedly) that it’s a really cute story. And it might be. But again, just removing an existing character to replace it with a gender swapped character has been going on entirely too much these days, rather than using existing characters. (Granted, I am not sure how well a Moon Boy & Devil Dinosaur story would work out, considering Moon Boy’s limited use of the English language). For those enjoying this cute story, I am happy for you, and I hope it runs a long time. Just not for me. Creative team is: • Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur #13 by Amy Reeder, Brandon Montclare, & Natacha Bustos

The Death of X has created a lot of speculation. Just the other day I posted my own speculation as to what the Death of X means. Well considering we’ve now seen several X-Men related characters on the covers of several of these books; it looks like Mutants aren’t going away (or if they are, they’re still appearing in these books). But the Death of X covers certainly do lend to the idea that a lot of mutants may potentially die. You can look at that cover and probably pin point some recognizable figures.

There’s another side that shows even more mutants who don’t look like they’re having a fantastic day. But seeing a bunch of mutant dead bodies doesn’t mean anything really. After all, for those that remember the Fall of the Mutants storyline; it was a whole line of dead X-Men bodies. The Inhumans in both of these photos pretty much seem to be having the time of their lives however. It’s noticeable that in the month of October, there isn’t a single X-Book being published. This could be because they want to focus on the Death of X, or it could be because of Death of X, they’re doing away with any “X-Men” books and shuffling them off into other books like Uncanny Avengers and Black Panther. Creative team is: • Death of X #1 by Jeff Lemire, Charles Soule & Aaron Kuder

Now the cover for Cage! is done by a different artist than the cover artist – and that’s a good thing, because I am not a fan of the cover art. I never picked up Power Man when he had his own series; I dig get interested when it was Power Man & Iron Fist. I don’t know if I’d pick up a book just about Luke Cage. Will have to flip through it and see how it looks. The creative team is: • Cage! #1 by Genndy Tartakovsky

 

 

 

Next in the line is Gamora, who Marvel should have immediately pushed out a series after the success of Guardians of the Galaxy in the theater. The cover art is fantastic. And it’s written by Nicole Perlman, who I believe had a hand in the original script for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I will probably pick this up, just because Gamora is an excellent, strong, female character. The creative team here is: • Gamora #1 by Nicole Perlman & Marco Checchetto

 

 

Star-Lord is another one, speaking of Guardians of the Galaxy. I collected his most recent series, until I couldn’t anymore. I never bought the relationship between him and Kitty Pryde, and it felt so utterly forced and no dynamic. So now he’s getting a rebooted series. I may check out the first issue and see where they’re going with this new series. Creative team is: • Star-Lord #1 by Chip Zdarsky & unnamed artist

 

 

And continuing along with the lines of Guardians of the Galaxy, we have Rocket Raccoon getting a rebooted series. I didn’t care for his most recent series (mostly because of the cartoony art style). If the art is similar to what’s on this cover; I would probably pick up this book. The artist has not yet been named. Creative team is: • Rocket Raccoon #1 by Matthew Rosenberg (no artist announced)

 

 

As another one related to Guardians of the Galaxy we have Thanos. He’s another one that I love when he appears, because you know it’s going to be a good fight. But as his own series? I don’t know. Never got the other ones. Creative team: • Thanos #1 by Jeff Lemire & Mike Deodato

 

 

 

We will be back for a round three!
Cynical Tawmis.