C2E2 Report: Marvel – The Next Big Thing

 

 

Not to be outdone, Marvel had me scrambling out of the Batman panel to secure a spot in Marvel: The Next Big Thing. While the X-Men, Spider-Man, and Batman still rule the roost, Marvel’s made huge strides with some of their less famous characters lately and this was the place to hear about it.

Nick Lowe, our moderator and editor of Spider-Man and Moon Knight, took a moment to thank the Chicago fans before introducing the panelists. The first was Mike Marts, an Executive Editor, newly returned from DC’s Batman office. Lowe asked him what it was like to be back. Marts replied that it felt like slipping on an old shoe. Lowe was not entirely thrilled with the analogy, leading Marts to amend his statement, “A shoe that makes a lot of great movies.” Next up was Joshua Hale Fialkov, the writer of Ultimate FF. After him came Charles Soule, the writer of Thunderbolts, Inhuman, and She-Hulk, the last of which received particular applause. Then came James Robinson, writer of Fantastic Four and All-New Invaders. A trio of artists rounded out the panel; Mahmud Asrar, Wolverine and the X-Men; Ryan Stegman, Wolverine; and Skottie Young, both writer and artist on Rocket Racoon.

All-New Invaders #2 – Review

by James Robinson (Writer), Steve Pugh (Artist), Guru-eFX (Colorist)

The Story: Revelations are always better after a violent battle against an alien being.

The Review: There is a certain complaint about comics nowadays saying that perhaps super heroes are now a good lot darker than they once were in the past. Some camps are in accord, while others disagree, much like any topic, but many people seem to particularly like comics that have a certain sensibility toward lighter or more heroic dispositions. Series like Mark Waid’s Daredevil or Action Comics by Greg Pak are currently critically acclaimed for their general positive tone, or at the very least for their capacity to let their heroes be good in an outspoken manner through their actions and words. Still, despite it all, there is always room for every type of tones in the sun, though there seems to be a certain affection for the regular super hero adventures nowadays.

However, even though there is a certain appreciation for the genre, it doesn’t mean that everything that tries to do just that will find success. All-New Invaders, so far, possess everything it needs to succeed, yet is plagued by some particularly big problems that weights it down, never letting it reach the quality it could very well attain.

Using regular super hero tropes, James Robinson does not do much of anything new in this story to warrant any actual excitement or surprises. To make matters worse, there is a certain use of the much-less appreciated faults associated with the genre that makes some moments rather cringe-worthy, like the boasts of Tanalth the pursuer, the fact that she runs away even though she is winning, the general acceptances of Captain America over rather important revelations and a few jumps in terms of logics makes this issue rather simple and much more easy-going than it needs to be in some places.

All-New Invaders #1 – Review

by James Robinson (Writer), Steve Pugh (Artist), Guru e-FX (Colorist)

The Story: Jim Hammond receives the visit of an alien being who is rather chatty about what she wants and where she think it might be.

The Review: Some writers are known for certain types of stories, certain genres. Geoff Johns is known for big super hero stories with a certain penchant for revitalization of silver age ideas, Ed Brubaker does noir very well and so forth. With these types of stories, it’s always a safe bet to understand the types of things a writer is best known for, as it does always ensure a certain safe bet in what the strengths of a particular writer might be.

James Robinson, the writer of this new series, is someone who knows how to work with older heroes, doing so splendidly in his magnum opus, Starman, as well in JSA: The Golden Age. With a certain knack for writing the legacy part of super heroes and people who have lived for a long period of time, it does seem quite fitting for him to be attached to All-New Invaders, a series about a team that did its things during World War 2. However, James Robinson is a rather uneven writer, which has been unfortunately shown in his Earth 2 series during the latest issues he wrote and in his previous tenure on Justice League of America. With his reputation, does this title seem to balance in the better part of his writing skills or is the first issue too problematic to be enjoyable?

It’s a bit of a balance between the two, for the most part. While the issue focus on something that Robinson is quite capable of writing, there are occasional troubles that comes down to plague the overall quality of the work. With this issue focusing mostly on Jim Hammond, Robinson is able to push forth his voice rather well, explaining in enough details how he landed in a small town and how he feels about his new life, getting us up to speed in the history of the character as well as what makes him tick. The general understanding of the character and what he went through is aptly balanced in the issue, with the part in which we understand the life of Jim Hammond being rather nice to read.