Revolutionary War Motormouth #1 – Review

by Glenn Dakin (Writer), Ronan Cliquet (Artist), Ruth Redmond (Colorist)

The Story: It must be tough being a mom and ex-super hero, especially when villains come at your house to kill you.

The Review: The Revolutionary War storyline has been a rather weird and mostly repetitive affair so far. With an opening issue followed by multiple issue reintroducing older heroes from the UK, there has been a certain formula, yet one that has been used to produce some more off-beat stories despite some similarities in their events. Heroes are somewhere unfitting, Mys-Tech arrive, heroes gets back in the game or gets captured, the end. While they haven’t been terrible per se, some have been rather average to say the least.

This issue, with all the things it tries to do, is pretty much the same in terms of effects and qualities. It tries its best at times to provide some genuine moments and to entertain, yet there are some odd moments that don’t really add up more than it produce weirdness for its own sake. It is, perhaps, a more British trait that the comic tries to convey in the best of ways, yet it falls off the mark at times.

Revolutionary War: Death’s Head II #1 – Review

by Andy Lanning, Alan Cowsill (Writers), Nick Roche (Artist), Veronica Gandini (Colorist)

The Story: It might sound wise not to betray and piss off a time-travelling freelance peacekeeping agent, yes?

The Review: There has been a certain re-emergence of Death’s Head in the Marvel universe. Thanks to the work of Kieron Gillen in making him a part of his S.W.O.R.D. and Iron Man runs, the vocal and somewhat polite robot made quite an impact in terms of general appreciation. With the Revolutionary War storyline going on, the opportunity to present his history as well as updating him is definitely present, yet can Andy Lanning and Alan Cowsill actually do as nice a job as Gillen when it comes to the freelance peacekeeping agent?

For the most part, the tale does represent a good lot of what is fun with the many versions of the character, with the three different interpretations being reintroduced in this issue. It is by no mean a perfect issue, with some problems plaguing it in some important areas, yet it succeeds in the most fundamental of aspects: fun.

The best thing about this issue is the characterization, with a fast-paced and hilarious attention to the speeches, declarations and actions of both protagonists. Both Death’s Head and Death’s Head II are similar, yet different in important aspects, showing who’s the actual upgrade and how they differ despite their resemblance in terms of approach and quirks. Their interactions, throughout the issue, goes from begrudging respect, comedy and rather neat action which sells that there is definitely room for both in the Marvel universe.

Revolutionary War: Knights of Pendragon #1 – Review

by Rob Williams (Writer), Will Sliney (Artist), Veronica Gandini (Colorist)

The Story: Magic is getting changed toward something altogether as Mys-Tech tries to make sure it stays like this forever thanks to the help of zombie King Arthur. Thankfully, some of the old Knights of Pendragon are there to try to save the day.

The Review: There are times when you do not know what to think after finishing an issue. Whether it is actually better or worse than your actual initial analysis, there some comics that are transcendental in terms of quality. Despite what it might try to do, its success and its actual intentions are lost in the sea of confusion that finishing the issue leaves the reader in, with naught but the ambiguity of the general appreciation in terms of company.

This is pretty much how I felt when I finished the last page of this comic. While it decidedly does feel British in many of its aspects, there are many oddities in this comic that are a bit indiscernible in terms of intents. Was this supposed to be weird and confusing? Was it supposed to be funny? How does this tie-in to the general story behind Revolutionary War? All of these questions, unfortunately, aren’t that clearly answered, even with a second reading, making this something that is hard to render in objective terms.

As far as the humor goes, it range from genuinely funny to downright bizarre, with some lines of dialogue, especially those made by Union Jack, that are downright entertaining. However, there is a certain dedication to randomness and destruction of expectations here that make some of the elements here rather unclear in terms of their legitimate worth as humor. It might be because I’m from Quebec, but there are several jokes that felt either a bit too light or forced to make them actually funny. There’s an uneven execution of jokes which makes some of the better jokes really great, yet they are balanced by downright weird jokes that make close to no sense.

Revolutionary War Dark Angel #1 – Review

by Kieron Gillen (Writer), Dietrich Smith (Artist), Ruth Redmond (Colorist)

The Story: Meet Dark Angel, a woman with rather great powers, yet with also a great responsibility to Mephisto of all people.

The Review: Reinvention and reintegration of older concepts are probably rather tough to do right. There are always older fans to please as well as potential newer ones, with a story that needs to be nostalgic yet also moves forward. It needs to introduce its key concepts without hammering them down to the readers. It’s all a matter of balance in order to interest everyone that might open this book up.

It’s why it’s always nice to see such talented people like Kieron Gillen bringing their wits with them in such endeavours. The British writer brings a lot of his charm here, yet also knows how to adapt his general style to one that is perhaps more suited to the tale at hands, with a very British sensibility brought to the action and humor.

One good aspect is the general way Gillen is able to put readers up to speed rather quickly on the powers, personality and quirks of the character in order to tell the story, presenting the concepts behind Dark Angel with a certain panache. Doing so in a prompt manner, Gillen is able to focus instead on the tale and how it connects to the general story behind Revolutionary War. He does not do so perfectly, giving only the opening and conclusion of his story a connection to the grander tale, yet the tale focusing on her plight and problem is interesting enough to provide plenty of entertainment.

Revolutionary War Alpha #1 – Review

by Andy Lanning, Alan Cowsill (Writers), Rich Elson (Artist), Antonio Fabela (Colorist)

The Story: Pete Wisdom and Captain Britain needs to gather the crew back as trouble arrive in the UK with Mys-Tech rearing its ugly head back.

The Review: Marvel has a rather large library of characters. Mutants, magic users, cosmic beings, street-level heroes, monsters, oddities and many more are but a selection of the kind of characters one can see when reading one of their books. While the very same is true for the Distinguished Competition as well, the new 52 reboot kind of crushed this large selection for them in unfortunate ways.

We all have some characters we especially like for various reasons. Nostalgia, a certain cool factor, a presentation or a concept that resonates with what we generally like to read and many others can indicate why we like some characters more than others. One of those character, for me, is Captain Britain. A man that tries to protect the whole omniverse with other people from various universes with the same power sets and similar codenames? Now that’s cool.

My general appreciation of the character made me go out and buy this comic, which was sweetened by the fact it incorporates other elements like Pete Wisdom and writer Andy Lanning, a part of the DnA duo that gave us many excellent cosmic stories. Teamed with Alan Cowsill to revive old UK characters and reintegrate them in the larger Marvel universe and its continuity, this book certainly has potential to be particularly fun.