Self

Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa’s latest collaboration launches itself not into space, but back down to earth, for a laid-back and breezy adventure series which handily keeps one mechanized foot firmly on the ground. In the world of Mech Cadet Yu, young cadets are trained at an elite academy in Arizona to become pilots. But as the title suggests, they aren’t learning to fly planes, but instead are being taught how to forge a bond with a race of giant robots who descend to Earth once a year in order to form fighting combat hero duos with their chosen human pilot. The comic asks readers to leap into disbelief, but spends the remainder of its pagecount developing this high concept into something earthy and relatively grounded, all things considered. RELATED: Pak & Miyazawa Reunite for Giant Robot Underdog Story, Mech Cadet Yu By this point Miyazawa and Pak have established a firm working relationship, following past work on comics like Code Monkey Save World and their creation of Mar

Almost exactly a year after “Fear Itself” #1 hit the stands, “Fear Itself: The Fearless” #12 wraps up and tries to put a bow on the story. When the issue opens, Valkyrie is dead and the Earth is about to fall under the might of the Final Sleeper, a construct forged of the Serpent’s hammers and directed by Sin. Matt Fraction, Chris Yost and Cullen Bunn have stretched out the threat from the Serpent beyond “Fear Itself” into an additional twelve issues of “The Fearless,” but this issue certainly doesn’t seem decompressed. Bunn balances the story around Valkyrie between Crossbones’ quest to save his lover, Sin, and Doctor Strange’s mission to save the world. Naturally, all three plots weave together, but the end scene for that combination can hardly be called a conclusion. It is more like an intermission as the continuing adventures of Valkyrie, Sin and Crossbones remains to be told. Valkyrie, through Bunn, is a strong character with issues of her own and a conflicted heart. She is a

Heading into “Fear Itself,” Marvel released a line of teaser images with the tagline “Do you fear…” followed by an image and a conclusion to that question suited to that specific character. Now that the event is over and Marvel has released the final ‘epilogue’ issue with “Fear Itself” #7.3, one has to wonder how long it will be before someone online spoofs those teases with the Marvel logo and the line “Do you fear change?” Each of these post-issue seven ‘epilogues’ has worked to undo some big change that occurred during “Fear Itself;” first, Bucky Barnes never died, then Thor is alive somewhere while a replacement takes his place, and, now, Paris is no longer a city of stone. Of course, the undoing of these events (even if they were always meant to be undone) comes off as a slap in the face to some degree. Nothing is permanent in superhero comics, but to undo some of the big moments in an event in its coda? That’s somewhat unheard of. And Matt Fraction seems aware of that in this

“Stories end. Stories begin.” That phrase is used more than once in “Fear Itself” #7.2 and sums up the entirety of the issue. Ostensibly one of three epilogue issues for “Fear Itself,” this one focusing on the aftermath of Thor’s death during his fight with the Serpent, it doesn’t so much end that story as it begins another. If anything, this comic is more a prologue to the stories that begin in “The Mighty Thor” #8 and “Journey into Mystery” #631 than an epilogue to “Fear Itself,” since everything new in it helps establish the new status quo, not provide closure on Thor’s death. The question: should any of us have expected anything different? Events at Marvel, going back to “Civil War,” have not been stories that begin and end; they have been transitory stories that lead from one status quo to another. “Civil War” led to “The Initiative,” which led to “Secret Invasion,” which led to “Dark Reign,” which led to “Siege,” which led to “The Heroic Age,” which led to “Fear Itself,” which

The conclusion to “Fear Itself” was — to put it charitably — not entirely satisfying. This was mostly because the story dissolved into a montage of lead-ins for tenuously-related books, dropping its own main characters (the big three Avengers) like a trio of hot potatoes. It’s perhaps understandable, though, when you consider that Marvel planned to put out three dedicated ‘point’ issues which would wrap up the “Fear Itself” plot threads for Cap, Thor, and Iron Man respectively. Indeed, if you believe Marvel’s increasingly wacky numbering system, these are all part of “Fear Itself” rather than their parent titles. (Though, er, let’s wait and see where they end up collected, shall we?) All of which is a roundabout way of saying that name, numbering and residual ill will aside, this comic is a “Fear Itself” epilogue starring Captain America. As it turns out, the connection to “Fear Itself” is rather minimal. It feels like a one-shot, not a continuation. Those who skipped the event wil

“Avengers: The Initiative” did a great job of helping to define a tiered system within the ranks of superheroes in the Marvel Universe. It also gave some lesser-known characters a place to go and introduced some new fan favorite characters right alongside them. Given the prominence of “Initiative” familiar characters in this story, it seemed like a natural draw to scratch that “Initiative” itch. Except this series proved to be both more and less than the “Initiative” ever was. Drawing a tight focus in on a handful of heroines and heroes, this series did have a virtual platoon of supporting characters to insert to the story as necessary. In the end, however, this story came down to the decisions made by Thor Girl and how those decisions were affected by and in turn affected her one-time teammates. In that regard, it became a story, written by Sean McKeever, about Thor Girl that had a mess of ancillary characters. McKeever makes these characters fun to read, and uses a trio of them to

If you were wondering what happened to the conclusion of “Fear Itself” over in the main series, well, look no further than this comic. The big unanswered question — what became of the Worthy’s Asgardian weapons — is apparently going to be answered in these pages, as Valkyrie and Sin/The Red Skull each set out in search of them. The notion of how much you’ll enjoy this story seems to be strongly tied to that of how much you enjoyed the parent event. It’s less a sequel, more a direct continuation, with one of the same major villains in play and similar Asgardian issues at its core. Whether that’s a good idea, given the generally weak reception to “Fear Itself”‘s core concept, is debatable — but at least its execution is done well. Written by Matt Fraction, Chris Yost, and Cullen Bunn (though scripted entirely by the latter), the first issue performs a decent job of explaining not only what the idea behind the series is, but why Valkyrie and Sin might care more than most about recoverin

This is it: the big bad free-for-all throwdown to change the Marvel Universe forever and ever. Captain America — the real one, Steve Rogers — against Sin/Skadi, and Thor against the Serpent for the fate of Midgard. Prophecy has Thor defeating the Serpent, but not without cost of his own life. Fearing this, and trying to prevent it, Odin arms a handful of Thor’s allies with mystically amplified weaponry to fight the Serpent’s hordes. You’ve seen the ads for “The Mighty” as Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Red She-Hulk (is there something wrong with Jen Walters?), Black Widow, Ms. Marvel, Iron Fist, Spider-Man, and Wolverine are bearing new arms, and this issue promises to put them in action using those arms. If you look closely you may even see them doing just that. Otherwise, you might want to sit back and enjoy the story of Broxton resident, Rick, as he finds the gumption to stand for his town. This issue is a major letdown from what was built up initially. The Serpent arose and claimed the

For yet another issue, nothing of substantial consequence happens. This series began with such great promise, but has fizzled over the past two (or more) issues. Matt Fraction steps into the abyss of inaction and tries to supply some character moments. Most of those moments are further out of character than they were in the previous issue, and the ones that are more on target with the character are shoehorned into this book where more action or battle would have better served. After Odin has been brashly challenged by Tony Stark, Fraction displays Odin as being surprised by what Steve Rogers has to say to him. Hardly the Allfather in action there if one of the most prolific legends of Midgard can catch the old man by surprise. I’ll spare you the analysis of Spider-Man’s plight in this issue as it is just so ripe with potential to ruin things Marvel has struggled to “set right” with that character, and I won’t even get started on inventory of the Asgardian army that might not ever b

While the main “Fear Itself” story tromps across the Marvel Universe landscape, Attuma (now wielding the hammer under the moniker of Nerkkod) is splashing under the surface, delivering a special brand of fear. A loosely knit band of defenders, including Loa, Namor, Dr. Strange, Lyra, and Silver Surfer is trying to put an end to the undersea terror in this tie-in to “Fear Itself.” Cullen Bunn’s story seems prescribed, following the instructions handed to him for a Marvel miniseries once he agreed to write this. This issue features a fight with the minor foes, some level of victory for the heroes, then a revelation that they still have a massive threat waiting for them. There’s not much room for surprise here, but Bunn does try to drop a few surprises on the readers, including Silver Surfer trying to one-up Tyrak the Terrible and Loa’s choice in the heat of battle. Maybe this is simply testimony to where I am with regards to the “Fear Itself” event, or maybe the story truly has slowed