The Theatre List 13/5 – The Indys take Battleworld!

As Convergence plods along we were all treated to the next issue of Secret Wars which was pretty amazing except for the ridiculous name they gave the new realm: Battleworld. It is so out of touch for a Hickman story that it makes little sense as to why he would develop such a universe and call it such a banal name. It certainly does not fit with Hickman’s usual level of pretentiousness. Darth Vader was disappointing this week as Gillen brought a rather run of the mill issue and Magneto tied in well to Secret Wars, but proved to combine the great panels involving Namor over the years. Otherwise there were a few indy books that failed to hit the mark such as Mythic (just an unfeasible idea poorly written), Mantle (completely uninteresting origin book) and Saviour which had beautiful art but had no real plot development. However there is wealth of creator owned books recommended below. Bucky Barnes was a beautiful looking issue but has such little story exposition that I fail to recommend it. Do not worry. there is plenty of amazing work yet to talk about.

Marvel Codes

Magneto – FMCJK5WC0T9J

Angela Asgard’s Assassin – FMC4FEV8AF8E

Darth Vader – FMDEQUUJ86CC

Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier – FMCPCZHM8YY7

Marvel

Secret Wars #2 – FMCH8VH070LE

Ribic is just wonderful on the art as the brand new world controlled by Doom is fully mapped out. There are some wonderful homages to ideas gone by and some new ideas about law and order, and I must admit how giddy I have become seeing the multiple Thors. There is so much yet to come form this crossover and I am very expectant.

 

 

Captain America & the Mighty Avengers #8 – FMDI5KN5ZLWI

It was actually rather refreshing to see the Mighty ones hold T’Challa and Reed to account over their actions with regards to the Illuminati. Ewing serves up some excellent dialogue regarding the morality of their decisions and it seems to be the first time a sensible conversation has been had.

 

 

Ms Marvel #15

The finale of the current arc is actually very well depicted by Miyazawa and is befitting of the naive innocence of Kamala. Her fightback and escape hit all the right notes, with some interesting use of powers, her surprise and tenacity and great personal growth. I only wish to read more of this title.

 

 

Thor #9 – FMCD9QH260U5

Well was the big reveal worth it? Well yes it was! It was a surprise and one that has a little more depth to it than just a character reveal. I enjoyed the impact it had on Asgard and the the level of respect Thor has gained. Once again the art by Dauterman was stunning.

Independent

Lady Killer #5

Once again more of the same brilliant work: the elegance of Josie coupled in with her penchant for extreme violence. The plot was solid though not original but it was well written and paced.

 

 

East of West #19

The development of a child into a God is quite an interesting undertaking. Babylon is having to learn to hunt to survive and to question the morality of murder, which is clearly essential to his future life. I enjoy how much time Hickman devotes to this character and find it fascinating how engrossing it is as a boy talks to his balloon the whole issue.

 

 

Black Science #14

Oh its time, Grant’s redemption is at hand. His flashbacks and regrets in how he failed to raise his children bring on the motivation to be a better man now. the multiversal aspect of the book is finally coming into play, especially with regards what their intentions were from the ver beginning. Wonderful art as always from Scalera.

 

 

Copperhead #7

I shall be reviewing this book later this week.

 

 

 

Chrononauts #3

The car chase sequence in the opening half of this book was just ridiculous. However indulgent it was, the excitement was incredible and the artwork was just beautiful. It is a shame the comic is written by a twelve year old.

 

 

Injection #1

An exciting opening issue to set the tone of a weird story as you would expect from Ellis. He has a love of odd post-apocalyptic events and this one is no different, however there are some gorgeous pages courtesy of Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire. Clearly none of us really know what is happening yet.

 

 

Saga #28

I quite enjoyed this issue because it was not so depressing as they have been of late. The new status quo of being on the run and hunting the family has set in well. I am intrigued to where the story is going to go and the character death was well handled and mildly interesting. It is always worth mentioning that Fiona Staples is great on art as always.