Posted by Richard Pulfer on Aug 19th, 2008
You know when Marvel uses to through out random variants of its characters as zombies to celebrate Marvel Zombies? Well, now Marvel’s got that out of their system . . . kinda. They’re now doing very ill-timed variants of their main books . . . as apes . . . to celebrate Marvel Apes.
Riiiiight.
The first up is Captain America #41, which promises to showcase the new Captain America’s final battle with the conspiracy behind his predecessor’s death. Written by Ed Brubaker, it’s pretty strong stuff, but it’d be a whole lot stronger if there wasn’t an ape-themed variant attached to the comic. Granted, its hilarious, Planet of the Apes-style Captain America cover, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the comic it incases.
But Captain America isn’t the only one who got the gorilla cover treatment. We also have . . . Ghost Rider?! Again, this looks to be a pretty serious issue, dealing with the return of previous Ghost Rider Danny Ketch. Honestly, has anyone ever wanted to see a flaming skull on a motorcycle as a gorilla? Maybe I’m missing here. Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men - they’d all be funny to see as apes. But apparently Marvel doesn’t want to intercede with Brand New Day, Secret Invasion and Divided We Stand aftermath, respectively, so they throw ape variants on two of its most serious titles. Way to go.
Guardians of the Galaxy #4 - which doesn’t include an ape variant - features a Secret Invasion tie-in as a Skrull infiltrator has compromised their secret interdimensional headquarters (which is saying something, considering their HQ is a giant Celestial head floating in space). Apparently on the Guardians is responsible, but with “usual” suspects ranging from a telepathic dog to a trigger-happy racoon, you know this isn’t going to end well.
Human trafficking takes the front stage for Frank Castle in the book’s first new post-Ennis arc, written by Gregg Hurwitz (The Kill Clause, The Crime Writer). Young women are being abducted and abused in a small Mexican town, and the Punisher is approached with a bag full of money to find the guilty parties and, well, punish them.
X-Factor #34 is one Secret Invasion tie-in which just looks to be a lot of fun. X-Factor is in search of probable new member Darwin, while She-Hulk and her benevolent Skrull partner Jazinda are looking for a shapeshifter disguised as Longshot. The cover - by Boo Cook - is classic, from Strong Guy wrestling with a Super-Skrull wrestling with She-Hulk surrounded by Multiple Man’s dubes.
X-Factor: Layla Miller #1 also checks up on X-Factor’s MIA member, Layla Miller, who trapped herself in Bishop’s holocaust future to out the treacherous time-traveler. Also written by Peter David, the series finds Layla in the middle of a mutant prisoner camp liberation lead by the “Summers.” But this is 80+ years in the future, whose even alive at this point?
On the DC side, Birds of Prey #121 sets up Oracle and her team against one of the most dangerous enemies Barbara Gordon’s ever faced - the Joker. I don’t think we’ve ever seen the Oracle and Birds go face to face with the Joker before, and considering he’s the one who put her in the wheelchair, this could be a defining arc for Tony Bedard’s creative team.
Brave and the Bold #16 has an unexpected crossover - Superman and Catwoman! Written by Mark Waid with art by Scott Kollins, this is one team-up I wouldn’t mind paying for - the image of them alone should be worth the laughs.
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds debuts with an interesting quandary. The Legion of Superheroes had always had Superboy to help them fight off a series of galactic threats - so what happens when they are pitted against an old enemy and a spectacular new threat - Superboy Prime. Labelled as The Crisis of the 31st Century, this should be an interesting read for Legion fans.
That’s it for this week - see ya next week!
Posted in comics, entertainment, geek
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