This week we look at debut issues and the latest chapter of X-Men with Daredevil #1, Captain Marvel: Dark Past #1, The Eternals 50th Anniversary Special, Wonder Man #1, and X-Men #28.
Daredevil #1
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: VC’s Ariana Maher
We’ve become accustomed to Marvel’s first issues that either throw readers into the deep end to intentionally disorient and then catch the reader up, or to simply be another issue in an ongoing arc. It’s refreshing to read Stephanie Phillips and Lee Garbett’s first issue of Daredevil and simply get to revel in the everyday life of Matt Murdock. There are hints of a bigger mystery and scary threats but this issue is content to take its time and establish a Matt Murdock out of his element and contrast it with a casually overconfident Daredevil.
This is not the dark, brooding, and tortured Daredevil of Frank Miller or Chip Zdarsky. Matt might be uncomfortable in his new role as an adjunct college professor but his life isn’t (yet) a walking disaster. Matt meets the new challenges of academic politics and Gen Z slang with a smirk, while he boastfully narrates his total control over Hell’s Kitchen and all of its inhabitants. Daredevil is in a good place. It won’t last. To drive that home, the issue opens with a violent vision of the future and ends with a mysterious new mystical threat, invisible to Daredevil’s heightened senses, who foresees a terrible fate for Murdock. The dramatic irony, the tension of what we know to come, haunts the otherwise cheerful issue and is an effective bit of storytelling.
No surprise given it is the strength of Stephanie Phillips’ tragically cut-short Planet She-Hulk, but the issue works mostly on the strength of her characterization. We have a great sense of where Daredevil is emotionally and his internal conflicts. It takes its time to let the reader into Matt’s world. If anything, the issue’s place might be a bit too decompressed with minimal conflict. That’s a matter of taste in superhero books, of course. Lee Garbett still delivers some cool action in the Daredevil moments—which feel more like asides in Murdock’s life, an intriguing bit of structure that is sure to reverse with calamitous results. Like I said before, it’s refreshing to just get time to get embroiled in a character’s personal life in a Marvel comic these days. That is an element long underserved amidst all the publishing initiatives and events.
The art combo of Garbett’s lines and Frank Martin’s colors makes for a bold, exciting and always lively reading experience. Martin’s colors are striking and deliberate–Daredevil’s crimson pops out of the dark blues of the Hell’s Kitchen night. Garbett’s layouts defy the traditional rigid structure of the heavy, dramatic noirs Phillips’ script draws some inspiration from, in favor of wide, free-flowing panels that allow Daredevil to soar across the page. It helps establish the series’ tone as a more swashbuckling story, even as it is able and willing to speak the language of purple prose of its crime-story forebears. VC’s Ariana Maher does excellent work on the letters, too, with expressive balloons and captions and handcrafted SFX that add to the issue’s sense of life and fun.
It may not blow down the doors, but Daredevil #1 is a rock-solid debut issue that feels authentic to the character, establishes his world, and leaves the reader wondering just how it is all going to go wrong.
Verdict: BUY
The Rapid Rundown
- Captain Marvel: Dark Past #1
-
-
- It’s hard for me to say whether this issue is faithful to Carol Danvers’ history or not, unfamiliar as I am with her more classic “Ms. Marvel” era of superheroics, but this is certainly a compelling issue. Paul Jenkins plays with her history with Rogue stealing her powers and memories to present Carol’s past as a series of mysteries and broken mirrors. Do they point to the past, the future? Something is hidden in her early years that is coming back to haunt her. Hey, it’s worked for Wolverine for 50 years! Lucas Werneck’s art is the star of the show here, though, with stunning character work and scintillating action. Rod Fernandes gives the whole thing a sort of dreamy pastel shade with his colors, and it really stands out beside the super-slick and smooth digital colors of so many superhero titles. It lends a softness and humanity to the book that contrasts Carol’s tough exterior. VC’s Joe Caramagna employs his always-deft touch to embellish the lettering with storytelling and emotion. I prefer women got a first crack at books featuring premier women heroes like Captain Marvel or Wonder Woman (or at least have one woman on the creative team), but it’s hard to deny that this book is just a well constructed piece of entertainment. My one note–an editor really should have caught that Jessica Drew does not have a Spider Sense. Well, she didn’t, anyway. It’s that kind of sloppy attention to detail that takes me out of so many Marvel books these days.
-
- Eternals 50th Anniversary Special #1
- Hey, the Eternals turn 50 this year and that’s neat, no joke. The Eternals are one of Jack Kirby’s numerous creations upon his return to Marvel and are somewhat underappreciated compared to their DC counterparts—The New Gods. Sure, they had a big MCU movie that largely was met with a deafening “meh” but they are interesting when done right. This special is a bit of an anthology with the focus being more on the Kirby-style Eternals and less of the vision of the characters that other writers like Kieron Gillen would explore. In “Back from the Edge” writers Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan examines Ikaris from the perspective of Captain America as the two just try to get some hot dogs from Jack, The King of Hotdogs, Hotdog stand. The story shifts between the present day (with art by the talented Phil Noto) and 1942 Europe (with art by the classic Dale Eaglesham). This type of story has been made before, but it is still a great way to showcase a lesser-known character alongside a cultural institution. Longtime Avengers editor and writer Ralph Macchio gives us a dark look at the Deviant culture from the perspective of Ransak the Reject with “Of Masks and Monsters”. It’s extremely dark at times and a bit more graphic than something you would’ve seen in classic Eternals, but it was compelling read. This is aided by Kirby-esque art by Michael Cho. It’s always a treat when you get sequential art from Cho and this is no different. The pure energy and emotion on the page are just gorgeous. The final story is the short “The Lost Eternal” by Fall Out Boy frontman and writer Patrick Stump and art by Domenico Carbone. This story is the weakest if only because it is setting up a new Eternal and possibly a future Eternals story but in trying to remain a mystery, the story feels empty. I am curious to see where this will go and if Stump’s inclusion in this book means he is going to be involved in a future Eternals comic. Only time will tell. I think long-time Eternals fans will be pleased with this special overall, and even more casual readers will find something to hook them in.—JJ
- Wonder Man #1
-
-
- As happens every so often with Gerry Duggan written books, Wonder Man cannot quite determine what tone it wants to strike. It is at its best when it’s a semi-comedic focus on a has-been actor/superhero. There are hints of pathos here and there, some lip service paid to the ecologic and economic disasters of the recent wildfires that scarred Hollywood, but it feels incongruous with the lighthearrted and affable Simon Williams (whose costume may I say is horrendous) and his low stakes quest to help his buddy out of a spot of legal trouble for the film production company that keeps him on retainer to cleant hings up. Mark Buckingham’s art has a bit of a throwback charm to it, big barrel chested heroes and a Hellcat design that looks like she rolled out of a 1950s ad campaign. There is an aesthetic the creators are going for here and when it works, it’s delightful, but that frivolity has trouble bridging the gaps to the emotion like the best of Duggan’s work. There’s room for this to be something cool and unique in a few issues but this first one doesn’t quite get there. VC’s Joe Caramagna letters this one, too, and there were a few small decisions that really made me laugh, elevating the reading experience and making Duggan’s script sing.
-
- X-Men #28
-
- The Alaska X-Men team has been targeted by an evil think tank called the Danger Room. Their strategy is to divide the X-Men and target them in the field. Writer Jed MacKay has been laying the groundwork for several different threats to the X-Men and Mutants in general. These latest issues have revealed most of the dangers that the X-Men face. With all that, the book feels like it’s missing something coming out of the Krakoa era. The X-Men line has been rocky, with them feeling like they’re looking for a direction, and if the point is to show how broken the Mutants are after losing their homeland, then Marvel has succeeded. The art team, led by penciller Netho Diaz, with inkers John Dell and Sean Parsons, and colorist Arthur Hesli, has got to be having fun crafting a solid, moody piece of visual artwork. Mixed in with the funky action are a multitude of intense close-ups of the characters with “death eyes” to emote the conflict and danger of this book, that last page, chef kiss. But after the grand cosmic storyline with the Avengers, I feel like the X-Books are being restricted by the looming introduction of Mutants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Bottom line, let MacKay, MacKay. – G. Carmona
Can’t wait for next week’s books? Catch up with past editions of the Rundown!
And check out most recent comics reviews from The Beat!
