This Week on Marvel Unlimited: 10/11/2021
Welcome back to TWOMU. I give my overall thoughts on the Hellfire Gala and look at the newest Captain America title while we get more Carnage, Kushala, and our next X-Men team.
New This Week (Published 07/07/2021)
Amazing Spider-Man #70
Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2
America Chavez: Made in the USA #4
Avengers #46
Captain America #30
Children of the Atom #5
Deadpool: Invisible Touch Infinity Comic #2
Extreme Carnage Alpha #1
Ghost Rider: Kushala Infinity Comic #1
Hellions #13
Immortal Hulk #48
It’s Jeff Infinity Comic #7
Runaways #37
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #14
Thor & Loki: Double Trouble #4
Trials of Ultraman #4
Werewolf by Night 32 Facsimile Edition
X-Force #21
X-Men #1
X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #7
Notes: War of the Bounty Hunters continues in Bounty Hunters…The X-Men reading order: Children of the Atom, Hellions, X-Force, X-Men…Amazing Spider-Man is a prelude to the next arc; a good jumping on point for people interested in Spider-Man…Captain America is the final issue of Coates’ amazing run…Extreme Carnage is setting up symbiote life after King in Black…Werewolf by Night reprints the first appearance of Moon Knight…Avengers starts World War She-Hulk…
Best of Last Week:
Cable #11 – We get old Cable and Kid Cable starting their team up. I really like the potential of this arc, as the Cables are assembling their team to take down Stryfe (including Old Man Cable reunions with Hope and Deadpool).
Deadpool: Invisible Touch Infinity Comic #2 – I love stories of reluctant team ups, especially when the hero is teaming up with Deadpool. Wade and the Invisible Woman continue to look for the stolen flash drive with Mr. Fantastic’ s invention designs by going to the Bar with No Name; it leads to a Cheers theme parody and Wade’s Hand Gun powers. It was a fun read.
It’s Jeff Infinity Comic #1-7 – I had already went through issue 1, but I sat down with my son to read the full series so far. While it’s not something I would normally go after, these books are really good for kids. They have very little dialogue, but the childish stories are great for kids.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #11 – We finally get to see Sana and Aphra pulled into the War of the Bounty Hunter event, as they acquire an invitation to Crimson Dawn’s auction of Han Solo. I’m still pretty underwhelmed by the story as a whole.
The United States of Captain America #1 – Steve Rogers is attacked by someone dressed as Captain America, who steals the shield. Steve recruits the other Captain America, Falcon, to help get it back. The fake Cap is causing chaos with the shield to sully the good image of Cap. We end up learning that there are people across the country doing good deeds in the name of Cap. Steve and Sam decide to find out more. After an issue, this looks like one of those feel good Cap stories, which are typically pretty good. I’m in.
X-Factor #10 – The last book of the Hellfire Gala, but it looked more at a loose end of the book. Prodigy ditches the Gala to find out how he died. It leads to a trail that he set up prior to his death and straight to his killer. We also learn Eye Boy is a lot smarter then he lets on. A very good issue and an interesting way to end the Gala.
The Hellfire Gala: This was one of the best crossover events that Marvel has done in a while. It was limited to 1 issue per X-Title with a stand alone issue; the thing was you really didn’t need to read every issue for the event to make total sense. I did have a little issue with the order of the books, but that really didn’t impact my enjoyment overall. Each book dealt with the characters in that book.
The basis of the story was Krakoa opened it’s borders for a night to celebrities, dignitaries, and other heroes – both friend and foe. The Gala was a way to mingle, work on diplomacy, and flex their muscle. The big thing to come from this was the mutants terraforming Mars for the Arakko mutants to move to, while also giving them a safe spot to to farm their miracle flowers. It also set mutants up as a universal power by introducing a new metal to their extra-terrestrial guests.
While it was fun to read, it did cause me concern as to what happens next to mutants as a whole. The books have really elevated their status since House of X/Powers of X, but I feel like they are getting to a point where anything less will be a let down. When Hickman leaves soon, will they be able to keep the level of story telling up? Will the books lose their cohesiveness? I’m scared we’re going to see a return to the pre-HOX/POX status quo, which I got bored with.
Don’t forget, the Krakoa Mutant Tracker is (supposed to be, but not right now) updated weekly as new books come to Marvel Unlimited.
