Category: Gerardo Zaffino

Best of Marvel: Week of February 26th, 2020

Best of this Week: Avengers #31 (Legacy #731) – Jason Aaron, Various Artists, Rachelle Rosenberg and Joe Caramagna 

Tony Stark is Iron Man.

What makes him Iron Man isn’t just the suits, but the brilliant mind capable of forging them. Tony’s been flung a million years into the past and, lacking the proper equipment to either build a new suit or time machine, has to fend for himself until he finds a way back home or dies. Along the way, he staves off both his past and futures as madness and hopelessness begin to seep into his mind, but being the resilient bastard that he is, we all know that he can do it.

The issue begins with a flashback sequence to Tony using one of his first inventions, some X-Ray contacts, to spy on a seedy meeting that his adoptive father, Howard Stark, holds with some horrifying implications. Howard’s “goodness” in the Marvel Universe has flip flopped many a time throughout the years with the most recent being a swing towards good through Jonathan Hickman’s S.H.I.E.L.D., but this flashback peels back some layers on what Howard’s always been about. Through Geraldo Borges, we get a scene similar to Eyes Wide Shut and Rachelle Rosenberg contrasts the light that Tony thought his father was, with his immense darkness.

We then cut to the future…or the past rather, with Tony sitting in the same cave that he and T’Challa found the calcified remains of Tony’s armor a millennia later and he’s grown a sick beard and wears the pelts of various things he’s killed while trying to preserve his vibranium energy. Gerardo Zaffino takes over the art for this section and, per his amazing issues of Conan, continues to do an amazing job in portraying the wilderness as dark, cold and ravenous. There’s a black madness behind Tony’s eyes after being stuck for so long.

Soon after Aaron Zaffino, and Rosenberg show us just how Tony wound up in the predicament that he’s in with only half functioning armor. Zaffino shows The Ghost Rider, Starbrand, Odin and Phoenix of the era fighting the metal man from the future. It’s intense as he staves off the intense, orange fire from the Rider’s mammoth, takes a brutal shot on the chin from the Hulk-Brand, stops the buzzing blue lightning from Odin wielding Mjolnir and tries to reason with the Phoenix before she shoots him back to the ground. Her colors are striking with intense particle effects as she tells him to “Remember the face of the Devil.”

Throughout the issue, we get Tony’s narration of the whole situation and he’s so very hopeful in the beginning up until the offerings start coming in. It starts off with just one woman bringing him some cave grog and then more and more start pouring in. Aaron starts spreading the seeds of temptation as Tony bemoans the nights getting “lonelier and thirstier” and Zaffino shows these busty cave babes kneeling with their grog skins towards Tony. As time goes on, the men of the cave come with clubs and grogs in an attempt to force Tony to drink and Tony is forced to drive them away again and again.

He’s starting to lose things and get angry before a silver tongued snake appears in his helmet with Joe Caramagna giving him a voice through familiar red lettering and bubbles. The snake mentions Howard’s name, saying that his adoptive father paid some sort of price and Tony lifts his helmet, thinking to slam it down on the snake before realizing it’s just another temptation. It’s almost horrific and really sells just how much this time period and everything is getting to him.

At the same time, the Devil doesn’t like being denied, so it sends a monster after Tony, the Gorilla wielding the Power Stone from Avengers #13! It’s a short and one sided fight as Szymon Kudranski steps in and shows the Gorilla savagely beating Tony. Rosenberg’s purple background and debris signals us to the Power (wink wink) of the stone and the intensity of the splash page itself is immense as the Gorilla whips Tony around, smashing rocks and Tony’s bones while he’s powerless to do anything except yell and think. It’s not long before it leaves Iron Man for dead and allows him time to form a plan.

Tony does his best when he’s trying to not die, in his words, so the wheels of his mind begin turning as he sets traps outside of his cave as various snakes begin to appear outside and are skewered by his spikes. Oscar Bazaldua does an AMAZING job as he introduces us to his “Ice Age Man” design with Tony wearing a suit made out of hardened ice and powered by the last of his Vibranium energy. It’s very reminiscent of his Mk. I Armor and even has blades similar to Baraka from Mortal Kombat coming out of its forearms.

I love this design because it’s gaudy, retro and bulky all at once and made even better by the stark white, the fur on Tony’s neck and the stippling shading that I do love so much. Bazaldua even gives Tony the classic pose as he confronts the Devil at his door. It turns out that the figure is… *gasp* Howard Stark in the red cloak from Tony’s initial flashback. Tony knew that the man behind the Devil Mask was his father in that cult meeting because of the X-Ray contacts and had been scared since.

Aaron portrays him as an evil bastard that wants to have Tony cast away his future and rule the world as Father and son, only for Tony to send a spike through his head, “killing him.” Unfortunately for him, the body rises and reveals himself to be MEPHISTO and he absolutely launches himself at Tony and uppercuts the hell out of him. Robert Gill takes over the art here and shows parts of Tony’s being smashed off before Mephisto hammer fists Iron Man in the chest. It’s fast and intense to a point where the speed lines are almost nauseating.

The Avengers One Million look on at the fight and ponder if Tony’s strong enough to hold out against Mephisto alone. It’s a tough fight because Tony’s running out of energy, his suit is melting and the Devil has far more power than he can handle, so he makes one final hail mary upon seeing that Mephisto has the Time Stone. As he denies the offers Mephisto makes, one last time, and blasts the stone full of his last reserves of energy.

It’s a beautiful set of shots with Gill giving Tony a dynamic pose as the armor cracks off of him, shattering into pieces as he expels a beautiful beam of blue and white light thanks to Rachelle Rosenberg.Tony’s unkempt hair flies out and looks amazing as it flows out of the cracked half of the helmet and the wires dangle back. Mephisto lets the energy hit the stone and looks on with his evil grin and blasts Tony back with Time energy.

Throughout the book, Joe Caramagna has been providing excellent lettering and placement, filling the empty space and hinting at the villain throughout. He does this to great effect when Tony is flung back to his normal future, but has to witness other possible futures. Caramagna spaces each of the thought bubbles, grouping them based on the image in the background and spacing them out as to draw attention to Tony words and the corresponding panel of horror.

The question is, what was this experience meant to teach? 

In many ways, it could be seen as a way to strengthen him against the coming threats that Mephisto has coming and that’s doubly true since Arno Stark has resurrected his father in the pages of Iron Man 2020 and he could be used against Tony again. On the other hand, as Mephisto says in the final pages by Mattia de Iulis, he’s sown fear and doubt in the heart of Tony. Tony does some pretty dumb things when he’s afraid and wh’s to say that this won’t create a new ripple among the Avengers becaue of it?

Overall, I enjoyed this issue! While not all of the artists were to my liking, the story made up for the pages that I wasn’t enamored with. I really enjoyed seeing how Tony would find a way out of the mess and I do enjoy when Mephisto is being used well. Jason Aaron is doing his best to pace out the story and weave pieces into place for the Mephisto Event that we’ve been waiting for since it was revealed that he was the Avenger’s true threat.

The various artists did well, of course there were a few that I didn’t enjoy as much as others, but everyone has their tastes. Rachelle Rosenberg stunned with her amazing colors on every page and Joe Caramagna made it all possible through his lettering. This book was cohesive and a lot of fun throughout, but the price and the fact that this was more of an annual kinda story drags it down just a bit. 

For the most part, however, it’s a high recommend.

Best of Marvel: Week of July 31st, 2019

Runner Up: Conan the Barbarian #8 (Legacy #283) – Jason Aaron, Gerardo Zaffino, Garry Brown, Matthew Wilson and Travis Lanham

Very rarely do we get to feel the cold of the hills of Cimmeria.

Conan doesn’t often return home as far as I know. He’s always off on an adventure in Zamora, Khitai, Stygia or any number of other places, not thinking of venturing back home. What makes this story so interesting is Conan’s sense of familiarity and how things are turned on their head when the people that he knew and trusted are suddenly against him. We see his normal rage and anger, but with a restraint that is almost never given to anyone else. It’s strange, but leave it to Gerardo Zaffino and Jason Aaron to give us another amazing tale.

The cold air wafts from Conan’s mouth, the warrior clad in a heavy pelt and a large rucksack on his back. He walks through the blizzard until he comes upon a collection of huts and a dog with piercing red eyes, the first sign that all is not as it seems. He is met by a man with two axes, likely the community butcher, named Ailill. Ailill prepares Conan some food while explaining a sickness that has infected the people of Conan’s clan and that the town shaman had run away. The sickness is one of the mind and as the panels go on, we slowly get a small twinge of dread until Ailill reveals that he himself and the rest of the villagers are infected, also with piercing red eyes.

Conan punches Ailill and tries to escape only to be cornered by the others and his Grandmother, who is drawn with a face almost as horrifying as Norton Sinclair’s from Gideon Falls. This is also one of the few times we see Conan truly afraid as he runs away into the forest to avoid killing his people. He is later found in the freezing cold, half dead, by the village Shaman. He nurses Conan back to a semblance of help and tells him that the curse upon his people was inflicted by a dark wizard by the name of Thoth-Amon, one of Conan’s arch-nemesis. The shaman asks Conan if he’s ready to kill everyone he loves and Conan replies that he had brought gifts for his people and that going South had saved him, so maybe it can do the same for them.

We see how Conan earns the name Conan the Cunning as he lays traps for his people using the gifts he had brought them. Sugar cubes for the dogs to keep them distracted, spices and grog to incapacitate some of the men and spiderweb rope from Zamora for others. Things look to be going surprisingly well until his Grandmother catches him off guard, allowing the others to catch up and corner Conan again. He fights hard, but also doesn’t want to kill them. 

Zaffino draws this scene expertly with flashes of Conan’s rage juxtaposed against his feelings of live. He allows himself to be stabbed and battered while just trying to pummel strike or punch his friends. His lines are thick and he makes excellent use of hatching to shade everything. We get the sense of how strong everyone is because of their movements and how large they all are. Conan is the biggest, but his grandmother is still a wall of muscle and anger.

Faces are another thing of beauty as the madness in their eyes is clear. These people are without their faculties and act like simple hounds, hounds that can talk and use tools, but with the bloodlust of hungry animals. Thoth-Amon’s hate of Conan reflects amazingly in them and their lack of restraint only makes thing ever more brutal.

Garry Brown’s colors also make things look so beautiful and desolate. Only a man as hard as Conan could come from a place that feels so cold and isolated. During the fight there are flashes of orange to indicate how dire the fight is becoming. There’s also a deep red as Conan can see the snake coming out of the ear of the Dog Keeper, the first to be infected, showing who the true enemy is and true to form, green is a color of evil as the snake is the perfect shade of vile.

Conan’s grandmother, able to break free of Thoth-Amon’s control, cuts the head off of the dog keeper to keep him from hurting her boy. The rest of the villagers are saved and thank Conan for coming back to them, the good times don’t last as the infected dogs return and all of the Cimmerians join together for another fight. 

I loved Jason Aaron’s exploration of Conan’s people. They’re all the same breed of strong as Conan only they’ve never ventured out of their home. They’re rugged, hardy and they’d have to be to survive in the wilderness as they do. It was also amazing to see Conan not kill people when usually a single swing of his sword is enough to begin a tear through armies. Truthfully, he would have done so here too if there were no other way, but he had faith that he could save them and it paid off.

Zaffino gets the most praise from me because of his art style. It rings back to the days of Marvel’s 1970s-1980s Conan series with a sort of pulpy look combined with the expert techniques of the modern day. He conveys emotion, action and even tells a story through the art alone. He’s got skills that makes me want to check out the other books he worked on.

Conan the Barbarian continues to excel as a fantastic story, not only through showcasing new and awesome adventures of the titular barbarian, but by continuing to remind us that by the end of all of this Conan will die. These happy times won’t last and it’s amazing that Aaron has managed to keep that thought looming in the back of our minds. Around every turn we get a new reminder and the dread comes right back. I can’t wait for the next chapter in this story or the many others coming like Esad Ribic’s story of Conan’s youth. This book get another high recommend from me.