Category Marvel

Jun 19 2017

Subjective Martyrdom in All-New Wolverine 21

by Drew Baumgartner

All-New Wolverine 21

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, read on at your own risk!

And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

Matthew 8:3

While I’ve often marveled at the depth of Tom Taylor’s allusions on All-New Wolverine, it doesn’t exactly take a biblical scholar to catch the parallels to Jesus in this issue. Laura practices peace, heals the sick, and ultimately dies (maybe), but it’s that middle point that Taylor really sinks his teeth into, detailing not only the pitiful masses in need of help, but the suffering Laura endures in order to cure them. She’s Jesus, just without the religious conviction (I opted not to open this essay with Luke’s account, which finds Jesus getting downright snippy when recently-cured lepers fail to praise God to his satisfaction). Continue reading →

Jun 19 2017

The Marriage of Star Wars and Horror in Star Wars 32

by Michael DeLaney

Star Wars 32

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Star Wars 32 is the penultimate issue of “The Screaming Citadel”: a curious chemistry experiment of blending elements of classic horror with those of a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars traditionally deals in the fairly broad notions of “light vs dark” and “good vs evil.” Here Jason Aaron decides to take George Lucas’s space fable of willpower and determination and put it in the face of darker sci-fi concepts of alien parasites, mind control, and vampirism. Continue reading →

Jun 19 2017

Recovery Means Coming to Terms with the Monster Within in Hulk 7

by Spencer Irwin

Hulk 7

This article will contain SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Recovering from a traumatic incident is a process that never quite ends. One can’t expect to ever be the exact same person again that they once were before the incident; instead, they have to learn to move forward and live with their new status quo. That seems to be the point Jen Walters has reached in Mariko Tamaki and Georges Duarte’s Hulk 7 — having come to terms with the fact that her life has changed, Jen’s now looking to figure out what, exactly, these changes mean and how they’ll fit into her life going forward. Continue reading →

Jun 16 2017

Selling Out (and Feeling Guilty About It) in Deadpool 32

by Michael DeLaney

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

Writer Gerry Duggan has made me recognize Deadpool as a (misguided) hero with heart. So when Hydra’s new America debuted in Secret Empire, I was shocked that Deadpool was working for the bad guys. Deadpool 31 showed us that Wade’s idolization of Captain America put him down this path. In Deadpool 32 he’s struggling with the guilt of that choice. Continue reading →

Jun 16 2017

Serve the Community, or Save the World? The Dilemma of Captain America: Sam Wilson 23

by Ryan Mogge

Captain America Sam Wilson 23

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, proceed at your own risk!

The central conflict of Captain America: Sam Wilson 23 is not between the Avengers and the Mole Man. Instead, it’s a reverberation of the themes that Nick Spencer has been exploring throughout the series’ run. Sam Wilson is a hero because he believes in helping people. His work begins at a human level, functioning as part of a community. By contrast, the Avengers present a plan to save the world. Their goal to rescue Steve Rogers using the cosmic cube could alter the course of human history. Continue reading →

Jun 16 2017

Fan, Creator and Hero are United by Expertise in The Unbelievable Gwenpool 17

by Patrick Ehlers

Unbelievable Gwenpool 17

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, read on at your own risk!

What do Batman, his creators and his fans have in common? We’re all experts. Or at least, we all fancy ourselves experts. Comics in particular have always had this interactive component to their fandom; requiring readers to visit specialty stores, travel to cons, keep track of unwieldy pull lists. Just keeping up with Marvel comics requires a nearly insane amount of time and energy tracking character and release, and the comic fan reaches their 10,000 hours of practice with the medium early. Gwen Poole is an expert at comics — but is she an expert fan? Expert creator? Expert hero? Continue reading →

Jun 15 2017

Perspective and Power in Ms. Marvel 19

by Drew Baumgartner

Ms. Marvel 19

This article contains SPOILERS. If you haven’t read the issue yet, read on at your own risk!

Plenty of comics have come out over the past year or so commenting on the rise of Trumpism, but few are as equipped to position their protagonists as the target of growing racial and religious resentment as Ms. Marvel. Helmed by writer G. Willow Wilson and editor Sana Amanat, this series has never been afraid to tackle the issues that face muslims in America — particularly young women — but this issue places islamophobia front and center as the “Keepers of Integration, Normalization, and Deference” disrupt Eid al-Adha, the holiest of Muslim holidays. Artist Marco Falla makes that disruption literal, as the “K.I.N.D.” men obstruct Kamala and Gabe’s path. Continue reading →

Jun 14 2017

The Amazing Spider-Man 28

Alternating Currents: Amazing Spider-Man 28, Drew and Spencer

Today, Drew and Spencer are discussing The Amazing Spider-Man 28, originally released July 7th, 2017. As always, this article containers SPOILERS.

Drew: When we’re frustrated with superhero comics, we’ll sometimes blame the serialized format for robbing endings of any tension (or even mocking the very idea of “endings”) — as much as a given comic may try to convince you of the danger its hero is in, we all know they’ll be back to fight again next month. And actually, genre conventions are much more prescriptive than that, generally insisting that the villain also live to fight again (though maybe not until the hero has cycled through the rest of their rogues gallery). I added the caveat of “when we’re frustrated,” because I ultimately don’t think anyone’s assessment of a story comes down to how rote certain genre conventions are — predictable stories can be great, and unpredictable ones can be terrible — just that we might misidentify (or overemphasize) “predictability” as the reason for disliking a given story. Writer Dan Slott may be most famous for throwing those presumptions out the window, but Amazing Spider-Man 28 reveals just how adept he is at making even the most familiar genre conventions feel exciting. Continue reading →

Jun 12 2017

Nova 7

Today, Spencer and Taylor are discussing Nova 7, originally released June 7th, 2017. As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

Spencer: Add this volume of Nova to the list of great series that died too soon. Thankfully, Jeff Loveness, Ramón Pérez, and Ian Herring clearly know how to craft a powerful ending. Nova 7 loops back around to all the themes the creative team have been laying throughout their run — responsibility, friendship, teamwork, taking risks in life — and brings them to an explosive finale. It’s not just impressive how well it works, but that it works despite the fact that half the issue is drawn by a new addition to the creative team. Continue reading →

Jun 9 2017

Marvel Round-Up: Comics Released 6/7/17

We try to stay up on what’s going on at Marvel, but we can’t always dig deep into every issue. The solution? Our weekly round-up of titles coming out of Marvel Comics. Today, we’re discussing All-New Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Black Bolt 2, Daredevil 21, Doctor Strange 20, Hawkeye 7, Rocket 2 and Unstoppable Wasp 6. Also, we will be discussing Nova 7 on Monday and Amazing Spider-Man 28 on Wednesday, so come back for those! As always, this article contains SPOILERS.

slim-banner4 Continue reading →