MONDOmagazine

Adventure Comics #521
Paul Levitz, Jeff Lemire (w), Geraldo Borges, Marlo Alquiza, Mahmud Asrar (a), John Dell (i), Hi-Fi, Pete Pantazis (c). DC Comics.

Well, I had a small week, so I picked up Adventure Comics…

I’d actually just decided to drop it after the last issue — the issue before they made it tie-in with, and conclude, the story from Legion of Super-Heroes. They suckered me in with promises of a future Green Lantern.

For the most part we follow a crazy little blue alien as it figures out who is going to be that Lantern — every Legionnaire it runs into it stops, considers, and then flies off to someone else. I was getting anxious that we wouldn’t find out who it was going to be until the next issue, but they finally got around to it. The whole premise of the issue was discovering this one fact — so the least they could do was actually deliver on that promise.

We’re told a lot of things that I wish we were shown instead — some crazy monster evil thing breaks loose from the Earth, and we don’t even get to see it! You know how, when you watch a Godzilla movie, you see him run amok through the city? Well, would it be better or worse if we just skip to the part where Godzilla is gone and the damage has been done? I don’t think I need to answer that.

In the end I just wasn’t satisfied with the content in this book, I think it could have easily been a part of the last Legion of Super-Heroes comic, and then THAT issue would have blown me away.  — Isaac Mills

Ant Man & Wasp #2
Tim Seeley (w), Tim Seeley (p), Victor Olzaba (i), Marvel Comics.

Like a handful of people I was extremely disappointed to see Irredeemable Ant-Man get cancelled. There’s so many heroes in the Marvel and DC universes who are admirable, or at least flawed. Eric O’Grady (created by Robert Kirkman and Phil Hester), on the other hand, is one of the few who is a straight-up asshole. A lousy human being. He’s not a monster, in fact, it could even be argued that he does more good than bad, but he treats people like crap. It makes for great stories and I was worried that with the cancellation of his book that would be the last we see of him. Luckily he has been seen in other books: Avengers: The Initiative, Thunderbolts and Secret Avengers. Still, those are all ensemble books and Eric’s panel time is limited. So thank you Tim Seeley. Thank you for giving me the Eric O’Grady-ness I crave. Here he is in all his glory: lusting after women, hanging out with his jewel-thief friend and being tricked into doing stupid stuff. Not only that, this is a team-up book. Ant-Man & Wasp is a fantastic miniseries spotlighting Eric O’Grady (the current Ant-Man) and Hank Pym (currently transitioning from being called Wasp to being called Giant Man… that guy never could settle on a name/costume).

Tim Seeley both writes and pencils, giving the book a Hell of a spark that makes for a dynamite read. In this issue, issue 2, we get into the meat of the story, as Eric and Hank try and chase down some of Hank’s tech that has been stolen (I won’t spoil what it is, but it’s awesomely zany). The characters are handled wonderfully. Eric feels like he’s been lifted right out of Irredeemable Ant-Man, complete with supporting cast in tow, and Hank is given the respect that he deserves as one of the founding members of the Avengers, although is flaws are not forgotten. There’s a new villain here, who is rather creepy, the story is great and the dialogue is a blast. Definitely check this one out if you’re a fan of Irredeemable Ant-Man, fun caper comics or books where characters annoy each-other. Only one issue left? Say it isn’t so! — Owen Craig

Shadowland #5
Andy Diggle (w), Billy Tan (p), Victor Olazaba (i), Guru eFx (c). Marvel Comics.

Joe Quesada’s letter in the back explains what this is supposed to be — the end of an era in Daredevil. He mentions that Darevebil is “a character and a title that holds a very special meaning to me.” Aww. That’s special. Me too. I started reading Daredevil when I started reading comics again. Daredevil is — hands down — my favourite mainstream comics character.

In fairness, this title does mean more to Quesada than it does to me. It — as he points out — was a big step on his way to becoming editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. And, it’s been a good ten years for Marvel: I started buying comics weekly again after 10 years of not doing that. That’s a big financial vote of confidence I’ve given this company. But reading this letter reminds me that Marvel was a lot more fun when it had no money.

When Quesada took over, they tried risky things and now everything seems like a coordinated marketing effort. Marvel is in the business of selling me comics, and letters like this are supposed to promote new comics after the “ending” of a storyline, but this letter is fair game and I’m going to spend the rest of this review as a direct response to it.

“…we wanted to wipe the slate clean — or in this case, burn it to cinder.”

—   Well, I do feel burned. So good work, everyone? I get that there was a long-running story, sales were probably shrinking, and it was time to shake things up. That still doesn’t make this story any less hollow and out of sink with the rest of the last eight years of Daredevil. The story that saw the logical progression from Matt Murdock’s outing as Daredevil, to a short stay in prison, to the leader of a ninja clan — and it was all very logical — ends with Matt turning into a demon and trying to kill his friends. Fuck off. That’s just so amateur hour. Matt Murdock barely even factors into the ending of his own saga. Shadowland was more about Luke Cage and Iron Fist than it was about Daredevil. Even Daredevil wasn’t about Daredevil in those last four issues. Yeah, Matt sets himself up to be in a place where, I guess, a demon could hypothetically possess him but in the Marvel universe that can happen anywhere and anytime. This story doesn’t tell me anything about his character or any of the themes this book has been about. In the end, compromise turns you into a demon? I guess that’s the message of the last 10 years of Daredevil comics.

“Andy Managed to rather sneakily get the entire underlying premise of Shadowland rolling in the pages of Daredevil before we even mentioned the event would be coming up.”

—   During which of the eight issues he wrote before this event started did lay this groundwork? Is that why this whole thing seemed to come out of nowhere? Because this whole fucking thing came from nowhere. The heavy-handed morals, the mystical element, the guest stars a pleanty, the fact that Matt gets possessed by a fucking demon off-panel — this shit didn’t fly before. Well, it happened once in a annual with continuity errors that Bendis did years and years ago. It sucked too.

“… hes’ actually made it possible to take the Daredevil mythos in an entirely new direction yet again.”

— I’m sorry, let me get this straight, Diggle made it possible to move Matt in a new direction through an editorially-dictated event? The way this is worded makes it seem like this was a miracle of storytelling, which Shadowland was not. And, you know, I’m sorry, but what new direction? Are we going to go back to the “swashbuckling” Daredevil of the early 70s? Haven’t we learned that no one wants that anymore? Well, no one except Jeff Loeb. So, not anyone with opinions that should matter.

“Enter Black Panther: The Man Without Fear”

—   Just because Black Panther can’t hold down his own fucking series doesn’t mean that he should take over Matt’s. I know they’re going for the whole “Let’s have Hercules take over Hulk’s book and have it be mildly successful” thing, but, come on, really? This doesn’t seem like a thing that Black Panther would do.  Ever. He’s going from being the king of an African nation to beating up drug dealers in a New York alley? I guess that makes sense. I guess he’s going to “find himself” or something. But, man, I really don’t want to read it. The rest of this letter plugs the new Heroes for Hire book, a new mini-series staring Iron Fist and the new Power Man, and some other worn out concepts that will mostly likely be quickly forgotten about. So, really, when Marvel closes a door they smash a bunch of windows.

“From the back alleys to the spires of the skyline, the landscape of the Marvel Universe is about to change in some very drastic ways. It’ll be risky, it’ll be dangerous, but, in the end, it’s going to be one heck of a ride.”

— You know, I just feel like I got taken for a ride. And it wasn’t that great. — Miles Baker