Best of Marvel: Week of June 26th, 2019

Runner Up: Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #20 (Legacy #720) – Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Jason Keith and Cory Petit

I love She-Hulk.

She’s always been a fun, sexy character that’s easy for me to project my McMahon-esque muscle fetish on and this issue deconstructs that in the most brutal way that needed to be acknowledged.

Starting off with a trial of the She-Hulks, Attorney She-Hulk accuses current She-Hulk of flushing Jen’s reputation as the jolly yet sassy, beautiful She-Hulk down the drain after her powers were enhanced by the Celestials in the first arc of this Avengers series.

Effectively, Killing the Fun. Current She-Hulk objects and the two get into a fist fight as we cut back to reality and see that it’s just Jen giving herself some therapy to control her powers.

But the theme of “No Fun” runs throughout the issue almost to a maddening degree. It’s the name of this chapter, Jen makes nods to it and even wears a shirt with the saying on it. I don’t take this to mean that Aaron dislikes the old She-Hulk, but that the objectification that came with her was not fun or good at all and that is a strong stance to take.

Sensational She-Hulk was an amazing series, not only for the writing and art, but also because of those spectacular pin-up covers. She-Hulk has been one of Marvel’s top tier sex symbols for decades almost to the point where it overshadowed a complex character with a fantastic personality and maybe more heroic deeds than her cousin, especially as he’s a Horrifying Gamma Monster now and she’s an Avenger saving the world.

Through the book, Jen tells us how villains would make crude jokes at her old form, grope her during fights and just in general not take her seriously. As she fights Ulik, King of the Trolls (a title that doubles as a use against some fans that didn’t accept Jane Foster Thor as he makes a comment about Thor being a name and not a legacy to pass on) he asks her to marry him as she beats his ass to a pulp. This, though contrary I think to the point that only her slim form got this kind of harassment, is the objectification and invalidation of her character.

Deadpool, for whatever reason, suddenly appears. He asks her why she stopped being funny. She replies so that she’s free to be ugly, to which Deadpool replies as she jumps away, “Can’t you do both?” This gets expanded on as Jen monologues of a conversation that she and Bruce had, where he said that he was envious of her Hulk looking the way that she did and that people didn’t run away in fear of her.

Of course, we then learn that she’s been hit on during team ups, groped, had topless pictures taken of her while she was in the Fantastic Four and just had horrible stuff happen to her that would never happen to Bruce. She thinks that being an “ugly monster” sounds good sometimes.

This book was powerful in exploring why Jen doesn’t necessarily miss being The Sensational She-Hulk. Even after that’s what it seemed like she was going back to after Mariko Tamaki’s Hulk series, I can see how Aaron feels about her character and the respect he has for her. She’s still not as strong as Bruce, but goddamn if she isn’t still one of the strongest Avengers.

And now to ruin any good will and intent I had with this review by gushing and arguing against the “Ugly Monster” statement with my own personal opinion.

Ed McGuinness has a very cartoony and exaggerated style of drawing and I absolutely love it, especially when it comes to heavily muscled characters. Back when he was doing pencils for every Hulk series, McGuinness always drew the She-Hulks exquisitely and now that Jen Walters She-Hulk has taken on a more JACKED look, she’s only gotten better.

Jen knows her Hulk form to be ugly and that gives her all of the validation and strength that she needs. I, HOWEVER, see “ugly” and all I can ask is WHERE?

In ny OH SO HUMBLE OPINION, this Hulk design is one of her best and most appealing. I loved the design of the “Broken” She-Hulk from Mariko Tamaki’s run with the character and McGuinness’ design builds on that with AN EVEN BIGGER FRAME and the MUSCULATURE to carry it.

Jen’s biceps and triceps are so large that both Scott Steiner and Hulk Hogan would blush and cower in fear. Her hands are boulder hard and could easily crush ANYONE with no effort. Her shoulders are wide and imposing in a way that should strike fear into even Mephistos heart.

Her legs and abs ripple with the strength to RIP KICK CELESTIALS APART and DO CRUNCHES WITH THEIR MASSIVE REMAINS as weight. Her chiseled jaw and face of anger make her a FORCE to be reckoned with. Any coward that runs away in terror of the sight may be justified, but anyone who sees this is as “Ugly” does not deserve the gift of being crushed under the weight of any of these muscles.

This She-Hulk is TOP THREE in most beautiful HULK designs and it takes up all three spots. Maybe this issue was directed at me, in regards to undue comments about Jen Walters appearance, but to mirror Ulik’s statement – Marry Me tho.

Best of Marvel: Week of June 26th, 2019

Best of this Week: Conan the Barbarian #7 (Legacy #282) – Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson and Travis Lanham

Conan’s heart is as cold as ice.

As such, he has great trouble letting people in and, in all honesty, why would he? He’s a thief and a killer in a world of thieves, killers and maniacs around every corner. The very idea of trust and love is something that Conan keeps far away from his heart as either a distraction or something that can be a grave detriment to any traveler. As such, when this book begins and Conan requests a few ladies of the night to join him on a journey, he is very cold to them initially.

He rides ahead of them on his horse to avoid unnecessary talk while they gossip amongst themselves over his intentions; whether or not he’s going to sacrifice them to a savage god, or planning a robbery and they laugh at the barbarian. It’s not uncommon for anyone to underestimate Conan, but his lack of willingness to touch them or even share a tent with them, given the nature of almost everyone in the Hyborian Age, is a little bit suspicious. We then get our first hints of what the underlying plot of this issue might be as Conan is unable to sleep because of memories of a certain Pirate Queen.

The next morning, one of the girls holds a blade to Conan’s throat and the barbarian doesn’t flinch. The Khitan woman asks where he is leading them and he surprises her by acknowledging what kind of hardships that they’ve shared in life, without any prior knowledge and she, the coldest of the girls sort of falls for Conan, earning him the respect of all of them. That’s what makes Conan great and so admirable, he has lived a life that most Hyperborians could only dream of and has suffered almost every pain imaginable. His eyes are filled with conviction and a darkness that commands respect.

Not only are Conan’s words hard, but his body is as well. I haven’t commented on it in a while, but Asrar’s work still shines amazingly as he draws Conan as a rock hard, man of power as he protects the girls from wolves. Though only one panel, Conan looks as ferocious as the beasts, driving his sword through the wolves, blood splashing from their wounds. His biceps and triceps tighten as he overcomes the animals in his frothing rage. Conan is intimidating and as the girls look on, their various faces from stunned bewilderment to gazes of lustful want only makes this entire book that much more beautiful to look at.

Not only is the action good, but the scenes of downtime are even better. With Wilson’s spectacular coloring, their evening feast feels all the more intimate. Conan, unable to fetch more than a rabbit, is surprised when the girls show up with a nice dinner and the way that they look at him, lit with the warm orange of their fire, is fantastic. Conan sat by and ate their food, thinking it was the finest meal he’d had in months and that was the moment they’d entered his heart. He listened to them tell tales of their various homes and stunning sights and when he did speak after being asked why he left Cimmeria, he looked at all of them and said that he knew that there was a world with sights that would leave him stunned.

He didn’t sleep with memories on his mind that night. The next morning, he reveals his plan to the girls, that they would sneak upon a pleasure ship so that Conan may kill a man that he had his eyes set upon for quite some time, telling the girls of a great reward for his head. Making fun of him for looking like a shipwrecked hobo, they clean him up nicely and board the ship. Unfortunately, Conan’s drink was poisoned and he finds himself dangling over croc infested waters at the mercy of the ships owner, Pheidus, an Argossean money lender. Love had made him sloppy. Pheidus, thinking he has the upperhand because he knew Conan was coming, drops him into the crocs, while taunting him about having the girls captured.

But, amazingly, the girls kill the guards holding them, toss Conan a sword to free himself and tear through Pheidus’ men. Violence is sexy and this scene might as well have been porn because not only did Conan rip and tear as normal, but each of the five girls did as well. They slashed and sliced with daggers and fists, grit their teeth in rage and screamed the same mad scream that Conan is famous for. As Conan tosses Pheidus from the ship, his inner monologue explains why he targeted him with such fervor.

Conan’s thoughts drift to his one true love, Bêlit, and how Pheidus ensured that her father would flounder on a sand dune until he died. This was all personal to him and the sheer amount of depth this adds to his character is astounding. Conan and Bêlit had one of the most beautiful and storied romances in Conan’s history before her death due to greed MANY, MANY years ago. Conan taking revenge on a man that wronged her family whose vice also happens to be greed is mighty poetic.

This book, as with the others in this series was absolutely beautiful. Jason Aaron really understands this character, his moods, his wants and desires and Mahmud Asrar is able to capture it with perfect line art and intensity. The action is amazing and using these one-shot stories to connect the overarching narrative is masterful and I cannot wait to see where this all ends up, high recommend!

Best of Marvel: Week of June 19th, 2019

Runner Up: Iron Man #13 (Legacy #613) War of the Realms tie-in – Gail Simone, Paolo Villanelli, Edgar Delgado and Joe Caramagna

There’s a lot to be said for how greed changes a man.

Tony Stark, eccentric, billionaire tech mogul, loved by millions across the world definitely had his flaws. He used to be a terrible alcoholic who sold weapons of war to the highest bidder until his failings led him down the path of heroism. His is a very heartwarming story and it’s intriguing to see what he used to be reflected back to him in the form of a greedy, magic leaking dragon as the War of the Realms reaches his front door.

With Tony’s armor being transformed due to being infected after his first encounter with Sadurang, he has to contend with one of the few things he tends to avoid like a plague: Magic. As a man of science and technology, it makes sense that Tony is averse to such things, taking a more structured approach to fighting people like Doctor Doom. He figures that it has to function similarly to coding and does his best to figure things out as lives are in danger.

His thoughts immediately drift to Sadurang and how similar they are. Sadurang, the All-Consuming is a gold hungry dragon, sometimes in the form of a man, whose appetite causes him to destroy everything that will be a profit to him. Tony used to be much the same and claims that while he was changed, his time in the eScape let him hit the bottle again and he hasn’t managed to tell his new girlfriend, Janet van Dyne aka. The Wasp. To me, this seems like the next step to a destructive end after Rhodey manages to stop him from walking into a bar in the last issue. He’s not dealing with his problem by telling her and only seems to be pulled further in as Sadurang mocks him for his weakness.

With Janet and Rhodey’s help, they manage to take down Sadurang by distraction and utilizing an improved Mk. I armor. Villanelli’s art shined throughout this issue. I have a weakness for stipple shading and this issue is full of it, almost giving it sort of Pop Art feel that really helps with the gleans and reflections of Tony’s armor. Delgado’s coloring accentuates this by making everything much brighter. Tony’s red and gold stand out amongst the beautiful purple magic effects and Sadurang is beautiful in a similar shade of red. Wasps yellow makes her look downright angelic as she zips around before the bright silver of the Mk. I armor steals the show.

With the upcoming Ultron Agenda being teased by Mike Deodato Jr. and Marvel a few days ago and the secrets that Tony is keeping from Janet, this book is a high recommend from me because of the story possibilities that are likely to follow from this. Tony has an awful habit of pushing the women he loves away and as Ultron returns, will his secrets spill out then? Who knows, but buy this book!

Best of Marvel: Week of June 19th, 2019

Best of this Week: Guardians of the Galaxy #6 (Legacy #156) – Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, David Curiel and Cory Petit

Talk about an explosive end to the first arc, huh?

Battered and bruised from their fight with Hela and the Black Order, Quill and the rest of the Guardians are pissed off and ready for round two. With Lockjaw’s help, they teleport to Knowhere, taking the fight directly to villains.

Geoff Shaw takes this story to its absolute peak with his amazing art. Propelled by a psychic dragon construct created by Moondragon, Beta Ray Bill sends his Stormbreaker hammer into Hela, taking her out of the fight. The sight is awesome, but unfortunately the only teamwork really seen here. The dragon looks ferocious and rightfully takes Hela out, or else the fight would have been very one sided again.

Shots are far and mostly wide, showcasing the various means of attack as the Guardians tear through Thanos’ alien creatures, mostly with Gladiator shooting everything in sight with his laser eyes. Shaw makes things look grand in scale, even when things are focused on one character such as Phyla-Vell after taking Proxima Midnight out of the fight with rays from her hands.

Things get even more tense as Peter confronts Cosmic Ghost Rider, who betrayed the Guardians in the last issue because of Hela’s control of the dead. He falls apart as Hela’s control over him fades and it’s actually pretty sad, mostly thanks to Petit’s lettering making The Riders apology even more melancholic.

Quill catches up to Gamora, who went to stop Thanos from being resurrected, and tries to convince her against killing her Uncle Eros, aka Starfox. Starfox had been the main antagonist of this Guardians book, thinking that Thanos would use Gamora’s body to house his consciousness when it turned out to be his Brother, the only other Titan left. Gamora rationalizes that if it had indeed been her that Thanos took over and she were in Peter’s shoes, she would have killed the possessed body in an instant, stabbing Eros through the heart and preventing Thanos from being resurrected.

That one panel was absolutely beautiful, if a bit marred by the lettering covering the exit wound. Eros snaps out of his trance and looks like he’s gasping in pain. Gamora is resolute in her decision, much like she was when she killed Thanos in the beginning of Infinity Wars (2018). She apologizes to her Uncle who muses that the plot was miserably predictable. It’s heart wrenching, especially knowing how light hearted and heroic Eros was before all of this started, seeing him fall as low as he did, almost killing Gamora before the gambit was discovered.

Suddenly, Thanos’ body erupts awake, though his mind not fully intact due to the transfer not being completed. Hela returns and in her anger, fires a black hole missile at Gamora, but it gets deflected back at the Incomplete Thanos, causing him to become the center of the black hole. The Guardians escape as Hela and presumably everyone else gets sucked into the black hole.

Setting up the Death of Rocket arc at the end, I really enjoyed this issue. Not only was it action packed, it also subverted my expectations about its outcome. I absolutely thought that Thanos would come back in full force in the final pages of the story and while he may in the future, it was great to see that it won’t be a YEAR after he was killed in the first place. I had some initial bad feelings about this team of Guardians, but they meld together very well. The power of Beta Ray Bill, Phyla-Vell and Moondragon combined with the skill of Star Lord, Groot and Gamora makes for an absolutely interesting and banterful team. Also because I’m a huge Phyla-Dragon fan and I can’t wait to see more of them. High recommend!

Best of Marvel: Week of June 12th, 2019

Runner Up: The Immortal Hulk #19 – Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Paul Mounts, Rachelle Rosenberg and Cory Petit

I think I’m going to be sick. Sick with disgust, fear and absolute love for this amazing series and the levels it goes to push the envelope of horror storytelling in a superhero universe.

Beginning with an impressive analogy, foreshadowing the events of the book, a young Captain Fortean is trying to impress a young Betty Ross with the importance of spiders to the ecosystem as they watch a butterfly trapped in its web. He tells her that spiders keep the rest of the insect population in hand so that the world isn’t in chaos. As they drive away, the butterfly escapes from the web.

Continuing the events from the last issue, Hulk is in the middle of battle with RickBomination, who displays an ability to dissolve Hulk’s body parts with his acid. Truly it’s a gruesome display from the fluid splashing off of Hulk’s arms, to the acid dripping from both of Rick’s mouths, to the slop of flesh falling off of Hulk’s hand as it fails to regrow.

Elsewhere, a kill team utilized by Shadow Base is taking care of witnesses and kills one of the hotel staff. This act is witnessed by Jackie McGee, the reporter that’s been following the Hulk and his exploits for the entirety of the series and her new friend: a newly resurrected and terrifying Harpy, Betty Ross-Banner.

Betty’s new form is a thing of nightmares. In her original Harpy form, Betty was a green skinned beast, resembling a centaur/manticore like monster consisting of wings and feathered legs. She was also the Red She-Hulk, pretty much exactly what it sounds like. This new Red Harpy is…something else. With a jaw that seems very snake-ish, the talons of her hands and feet are razor sharp, capable of grappling, ripping and slicing through anything. Her display of violence against the kill team is brutal and horrific.

She rips off heads, tears bodies in half and just strikes fear into the hearts of the men. The expressions on their faces are not unlike any previously seen in the series, but they still carry with them the sheer terror of what they’re facing. Jackie tries her best to stop Betty’s rampage, but her voice is mousy, unheard as Betty goes absolutely mad.

Throughout the book, Betty narrates that everything about her is her own. Her rage, pain and violence is all hers. Her new Harpy form is hers and after years and years being defined by her relationship to Bruce, she has something all on her own again. She is not endlessly loving, she is not forgiving, she is no one’s friend or soulmate and that if she is seen as a monster, then this is the perfect world for her. The truly horrific bit is saved for the end and it is disgusting.

This issue had a big focus and did a great job of reintroducing Betty Ross-Banner in a meaningful way after her “death” at the hands of Bushwacker a few issues earlier. It also teases a release from her role as just Bruce Banner’s love interest and more into her own kind of beast, more ferocious than her Red She-Hulk past. I’m excited for what the future has in store for her and the rest of the Gamma Monsters.

Best of Marvel: Week of June 12th, 2019

Best of this Week: Silver Surfer: Black #1 – Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, Dave Stewart and Clayton Cowles

After a series of starts and stops with a random annual and appearances in a short Defenders mini-series, The Silver Surfer may have finally found his stride.

The Silver Surfer Annual of 2018 saw the Surfer facing an existential crisis about his role in the destruction of planets after being newly to his position as Herald of Galactus following the events of Infinity Countdown. There was a bit of hope as to what their relationship would be like after the Surfer gets angry about his lot in life and Galactus wipes his memory. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to stick as he appears to fully remember everything when helping out his former Defenders allies. He hasn’t really been seen since until Guardians of the Galaxy where he was thrust into a black hole by the Black Order.

Silver Surfer: Black opens with the Surfer reflecting on the distress that comes with being the harbinger of death for the Eater of Worlds, how he never forgets the cries of those that are sacrificed to sate Galactus’ hunger. It then cuts to the Surfer doing what he can to save a few of his allies, using Beta Ray Bill’s Stormbreaker to catapult the warrior and several others out of the vortex. He then uses his Power Cosmic to find the weak spots in the tear to free the rest in a glorious display of power.

These two scenes are absolute trips to read. Tradd Moore’s art style is perfect for capturing the effects of a black hole ripping bodies apart and stretching limbs as characters appear very long and wobbly. Backgrounds are wavy and can actually appear to be very disorienting and that’s actually good for how immersive this part of the story is, especially after the Surfer expends his energy to save everyone and slowly drifts into darkness.

The exhaustion on his face is very palpable and I have to take a yawn as he curls into a ball and begins to shrink into a small silver ball of nothing. His atoms tremble as he heals his body after falling for what he believes to be years and he spots a bit of light. He summons his board and seeks help only to be met by three guardians of some sort of gate who attack him soon after.

Even weakened, The Surfer is no slouch and holds his own against these powerful foes. The shots of this fight are very floaty, in that, while hits have some impact, it’s negated by how much the art just flows. Everything is pulled back to show the grand scale that the fight happens in as the Surfer appears tiny in relation to these enemies. After a brutal fight that nearly sees the Surfer defeated, he unleashes a surge of energy, creating a sun above the planet and turning his left hand black. The gate opens and the Surfer is set upon by a VERY UNEXPECTED, but very interesting enemy.

This book was amazing from start to finish. Cates scripts an excellent opening that’s taken to another level with Moore’s beautiful art. I forgot to mention Dave Stewart’s coloring which absolutely crushes everything. It’s amazingly smooth and gives the book the kind of shine that’s appropriate for the Surfer and a trippy vibe to set the tone for what’s in store for the book. Even in it’s later pages where things are awash in brown, the Surfer stands out with his Silver visage and looks very cool. I’m excited for the future of this book and definitely give this one a high recommend as a return to form for a cool character that’s in desperate need of revitalization.

Best of Marvel: Week of June 5th, 2019

Runner Up: The War of the Realms #5 – Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson and Joe Sabino

There aren’t many other words to describe this issue other than EPIC.

The War of the Realms is in full swing and the forces of Midgard are mounting their comeback! Thanks to the work of Shuri, communications are restored, allowing the various heroes of Earth to coordinate their actions, allowing for everyone to be teleported to areas that need them the most.

This leads to various amazing shots drawn by Russell Dauterman. The visual of Black Panther on a winged horse as Okoye and the Dora Milaje fight off the Angels of Heven is the background is stunning, Captain Britain and Captain America fighting off Dark Elves to the shores of France is amazingly inspiring and watching Wolverine be welcomed into the Warriors Three by Hogun and Fandral as he tears through Muspelheim’s demons is brutal and hilarious.

Not only these moments, but the ones that are even longer look badass! Watching Volstagg return to his normal self as he dons the Destroyer Armor to fight Kurse is awesome because he shows that he’ll never give up, even while suffering from his injuries against The Mangog. Frank Castle leading the Light Elves of Alfheim, wielding GUNS to fight the dark elves is AMAZING. And watching Roz Solomon and Jane Foster team up to fight Dario Agger, giving him the comeuppance he deserves is so fulfilling.

While all of this war is going on, Thor is being ferried to the World Tree, Yggdrasil, by Daredevil. Surprisingly, it has been surviving on the surface of the sun as a seed of it was on Asgardia when it was being destroyed. To attain knowledge of how to win the war, Thor has Daredevil pin him to the tree in a fashion similar to when his father hung himself on the tree for seven years or so(?).

He returns in a series of shots, thunder rumbling as he crashes through the enemy forces, looking for Malekith. Hoping to mark the end of a rivalry that’s been years in the making.

Because of the vast nature of this book and its extra size, there’s so much to cover, but the main points are there. This is a Thor story, but it’s a Marvel Event. An initial criticism that I had was that it did not feature Thor enough, casting him away to fight Frost Giants in Jotunheim for most of it, but honestly that’s a good thing.

If Thor had remained, then we wouldn’t have gotten the struggles that all of these heroes had to face while going up against Thor’s magic nonsense. It’s been a wild ride seeing Daredevil as The God Without Fear, seeing him use powers and a newfound sight to fight the forces of evil. Watching Frank Castle’s profile raise CONSIDERABLY because of how integral to the War he has been is something else entirely. Most importantly, watching Black Panther coordinate everything alongside Lady Freyja cements him as a leader right on par with Steve Rogers.

When Malekith took Thor’s arm back in 2014, no one knew that the villain would grow into such a huge threat this many years later, except for Jason Aaron. The War of the Realms is the culmination of everything that he’s been building since 2012’s Thor: God of Thunder. It’s been a WILD and fun ride throughout and this penultimate issue has me salivating for the epic final confrontation between the Accursed and The Unworthy.

Best of Marvel: Week of June 5th, 2019

Best of this Week: Meet the Skrulls #5 – Robbie Thompson, Niko Henrichon, Laurent Grossat and Travis Lanham

Earth has a way of changing everyone.

Of all of the races in the Marvel Universe, the Skrulls absolutely blend in the best. They act like us, laugh like us and even have families like us, but what happens when that family becomes more important than the mission? That’s what Meet the Skrulls asks us as we reach the end of the harrowing series.

Mirroring the happy beginnings of their mission, the rest of the Warner family, mother, Gloria, and her daughters, Alice, Madison and a presumed dead Ivy return to their family home. All is not good as it is engulfed in flame, leading to Gloria driving the family to a safe house just outside their city limits. Alice turns into a butterfly to complete her part of the mission while Gloria and Madison are reunited with their father, Carl, who tells them that their handler, Moloth, has betrayed them.

Meanwhile, Alice infiltrates the home of one of her high school “friends” and tells her of her mission and that once she completes it, she will never show her face again. It’s distressing that things have gone so terribly that she’s willing to throw away her secret in a last ditch effort to salvage her mission, but that’s how the Skrulls are. They are focused on serving their home world and anything less than that is unacceptable in their eyes, especially for Alice who had been trying to become part of humanity for the entirety of the series.

At the same time, Carl begins to systematically incapacitate the rest of the family with stun guns, however Gloria catches on when he asks for a spot of tea from her that this is not her husband. She poisons the tea, but he detects it and they confront each other. Elsewhere, Iron Man arrives at a Stark Enterprises facility and questions how none of his staff knew that there was another floor/room that someone was using and how did a Skrull get in. Alice, posing as her friend’s mother, finds the body of her father, having been shot in the chest in the last issue. An unfortunate sacrifice to save his daughter, Ivy.

At the safehouse, Gloria and Moloth fight fiercely. Henrichon’s art reaches a new level of dynamic as limbs expand, twist and contort because of the Skrull’s shapeshifting abilities. Attacks and bodies look gross and everything is impactful because of the closed nature of the space they occupy. Not only that, but faces are expressive of the fury and betrayal that they all feel.

Moloth is disappointed in Skrull High Command and believe them to be weak and incompetent, choosing to betray them to another unknown benefactor and making the Warner’s take the fall for his actions. The Warners, Gloria and a recovered Madison are pissed and hurt that Moloth killed their father. Gloria rages and as she punches and kicks Moloth, it’s so very satisfying.

Moloth, however, gets the better of them and manages to hold them down with his limbs sort of taking the form of tree trunks, almost. He is dispatched when Alice returns, driving a car through the house and crushing him. He tells the family that the Skrull Homeworld will think that they’ve betrayed their home, that they can’t run, but Gloria tells him that that’s exactly what Moloth’s trained them for, turning her arm into a blade and killing him.The family then puts Carl’s body on a pyre and now have to live a life on the run while being pursued by Tony Stark and the Moloth’s unknown bosses.

I’ve been a fan of Meet the Skrulls since the first issue and I wish I had given it more love when it came to showing the books off because they are amazing. Robbie Thompson writes these characters in such a subtle way. The underlying love for each other is there, but it’s clouded by a cover of duty and a little bit of resentment in the first few issues due to the unexplained loss of Ivy sometime prior. Once it’s revealed that Ivy is alive and you think that the family may have happy ending, that feeling is immediately ripped away and replaced with grief.

These characters are soldiers in a never ending war, but they somehow managed to form a bond beyond the war. It’s even harder because they are an actual family, but adjusting to life on Earth and some semblance of freedom making them supposedly weaker humanizes them in a way that we haven’t seen from the Skrulls before.

Not to mention how beautiful Henrichon’s art is. Henrichon has done amazing art for Doctor Strange and New Mutants with lots of spectacle and style, but the way that he draws small moments… little moments of intimacy and smiles, sometimes panels with no dialogue whatsoever is spectacular. His faces are awesome and the feeling is palpable in each of them. The sorrow from Alice as her “friend” questions who she is, the shock as Madison and Gloria see “Carl” and the rage as previously mentioned.

Meet the Skrulls definitely deserves some acclaim. It’s a spy thriller, a family drama and an alien invasion story wrapped into one nice and neat package. The art is phenomenal and while it may not continue past this story, it’s definitely one worth reading. The characters are engaging, from the overbearing and mission focused Carl, to his loving wife who’s grown disillusioned to the mission, to the dutiful Madison and the wistful Alice who just wants to be as normal as the humans. It’s an emotional journey and the ending is as impactful as its beginning. High recommend.

Best of Marvel: Week of May 29th, 2019

Runner Up: Fantastic Four #10 (Legacy #655) War of the Realms Tie-In – Dan Slott, Paco Medina, Kevin Libranda, Jesus Aburtov and Joe Caramagna

Franklin and Valeria Richards are two of the most talented teenagers in the Marvel Universe. Franklin, at least before he started losing his powers, has the ability to create universes among other things. He’s also as headstrong as his Uncle Johnny and stronger than his Uncle Ben Grimm. Valeria has the intellect and engineering skills to match or go above those of Doctor Doom or her own father, Reed Richards.

They’ve spent most of their lives surrounded by other kids as special as they are, as smart as them or as powerful as them. They’re also used to the high life and adventure that being in the Fantastic Four brought them, so it’s no surprise that normal life is the biggest struggle facing either of them.

No longer living in the Baxter Building, missing the cute aquatic prince she met in another universe and not having an intellectual match near her age has left Valeria hopelessly bored. Franklin has become angry and introverted ever since he found out that his powers were depleting and he’s acting out because of it. Ben thinks he has just the right idea and makes Franklin help out at the local youth center.

It helps a little until some Yancy street kids try to bully Franklin, who does his best not to throttle them into the next reality. Alicia Masters, frequent friend of the FF and now Ben’s wife sees that the kids haven’t really had time to adjust and Ben then suggests hosting a Yancy Street block party!

Things go well with Reed and Sue finally meeting their neighbors, Valeria meeting an equal in “Moon Girl” Lunella Lafeyette and Franklin maybe developing a crush on Lunella’s older sister.

Things seem to go well enough until the War of the Realms reaches Yancy Street. The older FF does their best to save the people while Valeria and Lunella come up with a solution to get the Frost Giants away. When Franklin sees the regular people of the street fighting back, a fire is lit in his belly and he unloads on the Frost Giants even with his depleting power. Eventually Lunella and Valeria see that Valeria’s inter-dimensional cell tower is what’s attracting the monsters and Franklin destroys it.

Franklin gets over himself and tells his family that Yancy Street will be safe with his sister, Moon Girl and himself while they solve the larger problem.

The FF has always been about family and for Franklin and Valeria, being apart from the Future Foundation kids was equivalent to losing that family. And with the constant adventure hopping, they haven’t had a chance to establish a new family at home. Hopefully there will be more stories around these two in the future, especially with the upcoming Future Foundation book because they’re both great kids and it’ll be interesting to see how they continue to develop as characters.

Best of Marvel: Week of May 29th, 2019

Best of this Week: The Amazing Spider-Man #22 (Legacy #823) – Hunted pt. 6 – Nick Spencer, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, Erick Arciniega and Joe Caramagna

Only the Spider can kill Kraven, so says his curse.

In order to regain the peace he’s been craving since his return, Kraven has been pushing Spider-Man to his limits. He’s kidnapped Black Cat and Billy Connors, set hunters loose to kill the animal themed supervillains, poisoned Spidey to see visions of futures that could happen if he failed to do what was necessary. He thought the final step would be to force Spider-Man to make a hard choice.

Spider-Man does and Kraven sets him free, ready for their final confrontation. Kraven goads him into finishing him, lambasting the Spider for being the worst of the animal themed people because the spider is the worlds most horrifying predator, the one that humanity fears on instinct alone. But Spider-Man chooses heroics over everything, bright colors and goodness.

Spider-Man almost falls prey to Kravens words. He was afraid that in releasing Doctor Connors, he’d sacrificed Kravens guards to die, only to find that they were murdered by Kraven himself. After handedly beating the Hunter, Spider-Man makes him watch The Lizard attacks Kravens son and savagely beats him, but relents after seeing his son alive.

Spider-Mans entire message to Kraven is that people weren’t meant to hurt each other and even beasts like the Lizard can cut through their savagery and find the goodness in themselves. Kraven realizes that his mistake was actually becoming a beast himself and not something more as he had always claimed. He has a change of heart and vows to never hunt again, telling Arcade to shut everything down.

But the ending… as Kraven finally becomes a good guy, it almost makes me cry.

This story and all of the little tie-ins have been phenomenal. Not too many stories are worthy of being called sagas, but Hunted absolutely is. Not only does it mirror the first story in the Kraven/Spider-Man Saga, it makes it better by expanding on the idea of Kravens curse and ties a neat bow on his character while introducing a new and more savage threat for Spider-Man in the future.

Ramos absolutely smashes this final part with his art. Everything is beautiful, atmospheric and dark. Olzaba’s skills as an inner shines amazingly as Kravens inner darkness is realized as he dons his Hunter clothing to fight Spider-Man, appearing from the shadows. Delgado’s and Arciniega’s colors make Spider-Man appear a shining light even in the black suit and as day rises on this nightmare of a night, there’s a feeling of the jungle during an orange sunrise as pages are washed in an orange tint. Blows have weight and each tells a story of strength and sacrifice.

Nick Spencer was born to write Spider-Man and his run will no doubt go down in history as one of those Spectacular or Amazing stories in no small part to arcs like this one. I hope he goes on as long as Dan Slott did because he understands Spider-Man. The sacrifice, the humanity, the need to be a hero with the heart to match and never giving up even when things are bleak. This story is definitive of the hope that Spider-Man embodies.