Chaos War: God Squad #1 – Review

By: Marc Sumerak (writer), Dan Panosian (art), Antonio Fabela (colors), Dave Sharpe (letters) & Mark Paniccia (editor)

The Story: A bunch of neither God, nor mortal heroic types battle the forces of Chaos.

What’s Good: This is a comic you buy if you’re into a couple of the characters OR are buying the whole Chaos War event (like me).  The story focuses on Daimon Hellstrom, Sersi, Silver Surfer & Venus.  How’s that for an odd team?  Probably most Marvel fans will be interested to read about one or two of those characters.  For me, the highlights are the Surfer and Venus.  Although Venus’ joke of signing some appropriate (yet oddly inapt) song to solve a problem is not a new joke, it really never gets old.  It is one of those story devices where you can just tell that every Marvel writer has “the song” that they’re going to have Venus sing if they ever get to writer her.  I love reading a comic that contains that sort of enthusiasm from the creators.  Do you doubt that some Marvel writer has a plan to have Venus sing “Baby got back” someday?

In an oddly good moment for an event tie-in, this issue actually expands the Chaos War event a little bit by explaining why these four characters are important to defeating the Chaos King.  Here’s a hint: The name “God Squad” is actually kinda a misnomer for them, but only “kinda”.  This was a neat concept and I hope it is explored a little more in the Chaos War proper.

Panosian’s art is mostly excellent.  There were pages in here where I said, “Ohhh.  I like that.  I wouldn’t mind having that framed on my wall.”  That doesn’t happen in every comic.  This issue also has a lot of cosmic vibe to it that allows Fabela’s colors to shine.

Incredible Hercules #119 (Secret Invasion) – Review

Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, (Writers) Rafa Sandoval, (Penciler) Roger Bonet, (Inker) and Martegod Gracia (Colorist)

This latest issue of The Incredible Hercules is really just one extended fight scene as Kirby, the pup recently revealed to be a Skrull, causes all sorts of trouble for the God Squad. While an extremely quick read, it sets the stage nicely for the showdown between the Skrull god and the God Squad. I really wish there was more to say about this issue, but, to be honest, the focus here is on action, not story.

I have no problem with comics featuring non-stop action, but I do have a problem if the action isn’t very well orchestrated. The scenes of calm look great, but those are few and far between. Maybe they were just running on a loose plot, because the art team just doesn’t seem to have a handle on everything that is going on in this issue. At times, it feels as though penciler, Rafa Sandoval, is more concerned with creature design than visual storytelling. There is a lot of good stuff to look at here, but you have to work to find it amongst the chaos. Truth be told, I happen to like this art team, but they have to get a handle on how to control the chaos because epic battles these are not.

As for the writing, it is as enjoyable as always. Incredible Hercules continues to be one of the best written books each month even when the writing takes a bit of a back seat to the action. The humor works as it should, the characters continue to entertain, and the visual chaos is translated into all sorts of fun dialogue. Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente continue to make one heck of a writing team.

While I like Incredible Hercules #119 quite a bit, the issue is weighed down by the poor art direction. I can understand what Sandoval and his team were going for, but there is just too much going on in nearly every scene. That said, I am still enjoying the hell out of this tie-in and can’t wait to see how the team handles Kly’bn, the Skrull God. (Grade: B)

-Kyle Posluszny

Incredible Hercules #118 (Secret Invasion) – Review

Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, (Writers) Rafa Sandoval, (Pencils) Roger Bonet, (Inker) and Martegod Gracia (Colorist)

The last time I opened up a comic to the first page and laughed out loud, I was reading Incredible Hercules #116. I found the beer road map to be one of the funniest things I had seen in a comic and was fairly certain it would be hard to top. It was quite a surprise to find that Herc #118 manages to top the beer map in a big way by offering up…wait for it…FREE GOD SQUAD TRADING CARDS!! Needless to say, this awesome first page, featuring an Amadeus Cho rookie card nonetheless, set the bar pretty high for this issue. Does the rest of the issue manage to live up to the first page? Read on to find out!

Incredible Hercules #118 continues right where the last issue left off as the newly formed “God Squad” makes its way toward the Skrull Pantheon by way of the Dreamtime pathways. The only problem is the Skrull Pantheon is far from easy to find so the team must attempt to persuade Nightmare to give them the coordinates necessary to find the Pantheon. An interesting deal is struck, tensions flare, Skrully accusations are made, and the team faces its first true challenge. All in all, this is a compelling chapter for both the Incredible Hercules series and the Secret Invasion.

As usual, Pak and Van Lente have crafted a funny, suspenseful, and action-packed story. The interaction between the team members is a real high point as both humor and tension is used to great effect. Also, they make some nice additions to the Skrull side of the conflict (for those interested in the way Skrulls treat other religions). The writers show they have a strong grasp on how Hercules and the God Squad should fit into the bigger picture and the book is all the better for it. To be honest, this is just an incredibly fun story and if you aren’t along for the ride yet, you’re missing out. Pak and Van Lente have made Incredible Hercules one of the most consistently entertaining books on the shelf.

The artwork for this series continues to be strong. The team does a great job crafting aspects of the Dreamtime and some of the scenes featuring Nightmare are outstanding. Martegod Gracia’s work was particularly impressive with some fantastic use of color. If I have any issue with the art it is that some of the action gets a bit confusing and there was a few times I felt the scenes lacked direction. Still, this is quite a good looking book.

In closing, Incredible Hercules scores again with another good issue. The story is fun, the writing is excellent, and the artwork is almost always a treat to look at. As I said before, if you aren’t reading this series, you should be. Also, think about this…do you really want to miss out on that Amadeus Cho rookie card? In all seriousness though, pick this one up. While the issue as a whole can’t quite match the bar that was set with the awesome first page, this is still one of the best releases of the week. (Grade B+)

-Kyle Posluszny

A Second Opinion

Maybe I was just tired when I read this, but I found the story a little hard to follow when the God Squad confronts Nightmare. Nevermind, I see Kyle had the same problem as well. Anyway, while the coloring is superb throughout the issue, it gets a little muddled during this sequence and I had to do some backtracking to get my bearings. Also, naming the dog Kerberos and then referring to him as Kirby later on was a bit confusing, too. And why does this coyote pup look like a labrador? Eh.

Dog gripes aside, this is another fun-filled issue that rates high on the humor scale. There’s times where things do get serious and our gods put themselves in danger, but those moments are brief and quickly off-set by a gag or joke. For example, when a bevvy of nightmares is unleashed on our heroes, one of Amadeus’ biggest fears is realized: an over-sized Rubik’s Cube with an additional row of squares on each side. Having that thrown into a sea of bad, nightmarish creatures made me laugh out loud.

There’s just no way to take this book seriously. Sure, there may be a moment where things get heated, but for the most part, it’s very reminiscent of an action-comedy or cop-buddy flick. Again, much credit to Grek Pak and Fred Van Lente for writing one of the best titles on Marvel’s block. Rafa Sandoval’s art, along with his supporting team of Roger Bonet and Martegod Gracia are outstanding as well. (Grade: B)

– J. Montes