And we’re back! The holidays got the best of me but New Year and New Comics! Let’s get right down into some news and reviews.
Cover Reveal: Ironheart 2020 #1
As announced last fall at New York City Comic Con, Marvel’s Iron Man 2020 event begins this month with Iron Man 2020 #1 starring Arno Stark. The event will feature several spin-off titles, including Ironheart 2020. Ironheart, aka Riri Williams, debuted in Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato Jr.’s Invincible Iron Man #9 (2015), and got her…
Previously on Comics: Marvel to Release the Claremont Cut and DC Comics Goes to the Zoo
Oh hey it’s Monday! And comics industry news from last week was actually pretty good! Marvel will release an extended version of Chris Claremont’s God Loves Man Kills next month. For the first time, the Scotiabank Giller Prize will open its doors to graphic novels. The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) announced its 2020 list…
Excalibur #5 and the Gospel of Dolly Parton
The events of the past four issues come to a head in Excalibur #5, as the groundwork laid by the creative team comes together in explosive ways. With the long promised return of Rogue, Excalibur assembles its full team for the first time, just in time to change the status quo in a huge fashion. Excalibur has been one…
New Mutants #5: Space, The Final Frontier
In the fifth issue of Jonathan Hickman and Rod Reis’s New Mutants, the team’s space mission encounters real space danger, as the New Mutants go head-to-head with the Shi’ar Death Commandos. Dawn of X’s space saga hurtles ahead and the New Mutants entangle themselves in more interstellar political turmoil than anyone expected from a simple…
X-Force #5 Takes an Eye for an Eye
After the cliffhanger of last issue, X-Force #5 gives us pure action the entire way through, which is good, since it feels like we’ve been waiting for a resolution to this since last year. [CHORUS OF BOOS. —Ed.]
Action, Adventure, Intrigue: Becky Cloonan on Sword Woman Dark Agnes
“If you like action, intrigue, and adventure, and have always wanted to travel back in time to the beginning of the Renaissance, this is the story for you,” says Becky Cloonan of Marvel ‘s new miniseries, Dark Agnes. Cloonan is writing the series, accompanied by artist Luca Pizzari and featuring covers by Stephanie Hans. Cloonan’s…
X-Men #4: Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest, Put Our Assassins to the Test
The final indelible image of House of X #1 features Magneto in Jerusalem, resplendent in white, the sun glinting off his helmet. His words provide not only a stunning cliffhanger, but a statement of purpose for the entire X-line going forward: “You have new gods now.” X-Men #4, by Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu,…
Incoming! #1 Braces for Impact in 2020
Incoming! #1 is a sort of State of the Union of the Marvel Universe. Like an annual check-in on familiar characters readers may have lost track of, setting up the events of the year to come. There is something for every fan in this oversized issue. It’s a relay race run by a wide team…
Casting Call: Why a Mixed-Race Kate Bishop in Hawkeye Makes Sense
When I saw that Hailee Steinfield was the frontrunner to play Kate Bishop in Disney+’s Hawkeye, I messaged everyone I knew about it. Finally, someone like me was going to play an Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) hero: a mixed race Filipinx person who fell into the “ambiguously brown” category. While my excitement was not universal…
New Mutants #4: Ugh, Nebraska
In New Mutants #4, the young X-Men assembled by Armor in the previous issue are in trouble in Pilger, Nebraska. In the second issue of this storyline in the Dawn of X title, the young New Mutants face down high stakes with lives on the line, in a straightforward conflict with the villains of this…
X-Force #4: No Moral Compass Except Nationalism
Four issues of X-Force, and I’m once again revising my opinion. I’m very annoyed with this book and its continual ups and downs!