"The Union," by Paul Grist and Andrea Di Vito Deserved More Attention

"The Union," was a fun comic by Paul Grist and Andrea Di Vito that received almost no attention. This was odd as Grist is a popular writer and artist. He has done some fantastic less-than-mainstream work, with this mini being a relatively rare example of work for either of, "The big two." Focused on a team of heroes from the United Kingdom dealing with Brexit as well as the latest huge Marvel event, it was solicited at first to tie in with, "Empyre," but a lot of tie-ins for that were derailed by the comic distribution shutdown COVID-19 caused. It was seemingly canceled, but then came back with a solicitation linking it up with Marvel's big, "King in Black," event. The earlier issues heavily utilized, "King in Black," but then the comic went off to tell its own interesting tale.

Focused on an assemblage of known, lesser-known, and (I think) outright new heroes from the UK, we watched as the latest Union Jack struggled to keep a team together through death, destruction, and messy politics. It was a lovely read and considering the talent involved (again, Grist is great and Di Vito is a fantastic artist too), it was odd how little an impact, "The Union," made. Perhaps the fact it started as a tie-in to an event that was pretty mediocre sunk it? I don't know as you honestly could read, "The Union," and skip, "King in Black," as long as you have a general understanding it involves an evil Symbiote God who wants to destroy Earth with darkness caused by symbiote goo.

My favorite twist is how one seemingly main character--and the heart of the team--Britannia, is killed in the first issue by the invading symbiotes and then the rest of the series examines the fallout of what it means when the person who is also a symbol that stands for everything you love about your country is suddenly gone. That sounds very dark and dreary, but, "The Union," works in a lot of humor as well (I loved the Corgi). It is just a great read and you should check, "The Union," out regardless of your interest in, "King in Black," or Marvel in general as stands out nicely as just a stellar little mini-series.

5 out of 5 stars.

April 2021 Links and News

 April--a Month and a Popular Name

It's April, the weather is (mostly) nice lately, and I've got some news and links to share.

Get to Readin'

"The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," had quite the intense fourth episode. This article by Matt Patches at Polygon points out how the show keeps raising question after question about ethical and philosophical questions but seems to be overloading itself with ideas that lack much follow-through. We'll see how the last two episodes work out, maybe?

I've actually interviewed comic-creator Charles Forsman before and always love reading other interviews with him such as this one at NeoText.

Back in the day, we had shareware, demo discs, and such for our video-games. Kotaku examined the fascinating history of this method of marketing which with the rise of the internet basically disappeared.

Kyle Lukeoff shared in an article for Jezebel how he wrote the children's book, "Call Me Max," with the goal of writing a tale about a transgender kid so inoffensive and, "Basic," that it couldn't be protested on the grounds of questionable content for any reason unless the protestors were just outright complaining about it featuring inclusivity. People still protested.

I wasn't really digging Marvel's event, "King in Black," and felt they were forcing the big new bad-guy, Knull, on us way too hard. The comic has wrapped and you can find plenty of articles saying the whole event was basically a dud with a weak ending (I won't spoil it as the comic has been out less than a week, but it was pretty meh).

In closing, vaccine rates are increasing at a stellar rate in America, but the danger of COVID-19 variants is on the rise too. Anyone who can safely take the vaccine needs to do so.

Enjoy the Rest of April

We're halfway through April and working hard to get life back to a semblance of normalcy as the pandemic hopefully resides. Remember to occasionally take time for yourself. Take a deep breath now and then, focus, and get that bread AKA money.

Marvel is Doing ANOTHER Event with Symbiotes Called, "Extreme Carnage," and I'm Just Befuddled

"King in Black," is wrapping up with issue #5 and it was mediocre-at-best. It featured a, "God of the symbiotes," named Knull who had an interesting character design and little else going for him. Marvel was promoting Knull, hard, and now they have plans to do another event with more symbiotes? Yep! This July will mark the start of, "Extreme Carnage," and I'm just kind of going, "Really?" at this news. It isn't a mega-event, but still, maybe we should give the symbiotes a rest for a bit beside a solo Venom comic. For all I know it'll be a great read, but the optics, man, the optics are all off. Marvel is saying, "We know you're burned-out on symbiotes, but here's even more!" and I'll probably skim it but not bother buying it, to be honest. I guess we'll see what people say when, "Extreme Carnage," starts-up in July.

The More, "Heroes Reborn," Comics Marvel Announces, The Less Excited I Am

 

Last month Marvel announced a mini-event titled, "Heroes Reborn." It imagines a world where the Avengers never formed along with other heroes starting-up and instead the Squadron Supreme is running the show along with other interesting new versions of familiar characters. I thought it was basically an arc of, "Avengers," or a standalone mini-series. I was wrong as Marvel keeps announcing various one-shots and tie-ins As this, "Mini," event becomes more of a big full-fledged, "Event," I just find myself losing interest in buying any of it. 

Massive events sometimes are cool but can be a waste of money too. I've been following a number of comics that tie-in with, "King in Black," because I have soft spot for Venom/symbiote stories and it's been alright, but I'm glad I am being a little picky in which books I spent money on with that mega-event. I do like a good alternate-Universe tale, with Flashpoint being an event I didn't know I would absolutely love as much as I did back in 2011 or so, and when Jonathan Hickman did, "Secret Wars," and its numerous tie-ins, that was pretty cool. I also plan to read a chunk of DC's current, "Future State," when some issues I ordered thanks to a good discount arrive.

Still, I saved money on both those events by getting the countless tie-in comics from dollar bins or reading trade paperback collections from the library. I wasn't in a rush to read these massive events that tweaked the World in cool ways but had way too many tie-in books. Other, recent events, I have basically avoided and just read the tie-in comics that I was already reading. I didn't follow, "Empyre," at all besides in the X-Men comics I was getting that touched-upon that event--to give one example.

"Heroes Reborn," could be a lot of fun, but I don't want to spend a bunch of money on it. I'll probably wait for the trade paperback/paperbacks collecting it to arrive at the library eventually. I'm in no rush to read the event and its increasing number of tie-ins, so I'll give it time. Saves me a chunk of change, after all.

"Atlantis Attacks," #5 Doesn't Actually Tie-In to, "King in Black," Despite Marvel's Claims Otherwise

Remember back in September when I noticed how the delayed mini-series, "Atlantis Attacks," was going to have a surprise crossover with the then-upcoming, "King in Black," event? It got me thinking about surprise crossovers, but it should've had me considering crossovers that aren't really much of a crossover. That is because while the fifth issue of, "Atlantis Attacks," is a good read, it really isn't a tie-in with King in Black. It literally is not until the last page the event is mentioned, and then there is a little blurb saying to read the actual crossover of, "Namor: King in Black," which kinda-sorta follows-up from this mini-series.

I get that maybe Marvel wanted some more sales of, "Atlantis Attacks," and hoped that by making the final issue tie-in with this, "King in Black," event it would get people who are really big on Knull (like Marvel), to pick up the comic even if they hadn't read other issues. I think it was a tacky ploy that somewhat diminishes the ability of, "Atlantis Attacks," to stand alone as a quality mini-series without suddenly inserting--as I said--a single page, to ostensibly make this a tie-in. The whole thing reeks of cynicism, which stinks as I already said, "Atlantis Attacks," was a fun comic. Hopefully, "Namor: King in Black," will be good along with its actually tying in with, "King in Black."

Marvel is Really Going Hard on All This Knull Stuff

Donny Cates introduced the character Knull in his current, "Venom," run. He is a God of symbiotes, evil, and has a somewhat interesting character design. He's...fine. Since then there has been a slow build-up to present him as some huge evil that is terrifying and threatens the World at a cosmic-level. I don't hate Knull, but I'm not sure he is interesting enough to keep dedicating more and more comics too as well as an upcoming mega-event titled, "King in Black." Almost every Marvel book seems like it will directly tie-in with, "King in Black," or have an extra one-shot issue that does relate to it while sparing the regular series a tie-in. 

It feels like not a day goes by without a new Knull-related book and today another one, "Planet of the Symbiotes," #1 was announced. It ties in past symbiotes and that, "Ravencroft," series that had Carnage's grandfather or such involved in it. Basically, if you have a Marvel comic it will somehow integrate Knull. I'm not upset or ecstatic. I will probably read the main, "King in Black," event comic because Donny Cates run on, "Venom," has been solid even with its at times heavy focus on Knull and it'll have Ryan Stegman on the art (who has been great illustrating, "Venom," as well). I will also read the, "King in Black," comics and one-shots that directly relate to series I'm already enjoying such as, "Immortal Hulk." 

I ain't gonna be trying to pick-up all these random tie-ins however because the days of me being a completionist for event comics are long gone. The only Marvel titles I'm picking up basically every issue of are the current X-Men titles because the reboot has been pretty rad, and even this big multi-issue, "X of Swords," thing is a bit much. I don't need that and a metric ton of Knull comics when I am so indifferent to the character. That's how I feel about all this, at least.

When Your Mini-Series Has a Surprise Crossover

The, "Agents of Atlas," comics have been in various mini-series lately that are chronologically linked but have different titles somewhat confusingly. The most recent mini-series with them has been, "Atlantis Attacks," which due to COVID-19 was of course delayed with many other books (the comic industry shut down for a bit). The book will soon be back on track, however, and the fifth issue surprisingly ties-in with another upcoming mini-series/event, "King in Black." That is an upcoming big ol' event with the evil God of Symbiotes, Knull. This is interesting and reminds me of when a, "Captain Marvel," mini-series was a part of two events, in a strange way.

During Marvel's, "Civil War," comic there was the surprise reveal that the original Captain Marvel had time-traveled or something and was alive, but still ill with the cancer that took his life back in his comic in the 1980s. Then, he got a mini-series about being back amongst the living, but thinking something was off. The mini-series did not solicit it at first, but there was a surprise reveal he was actually a Skrull sleeper agent for, "Secret Invasion," the mini-series that came a bit after, "Civil War." He did not realize he was in fact a Skrull and it was a shock to readers seeing this too. It was pretty clever, and led to him fighting against the Skrulls even though he was one and telling Marvel Boy to try and be Captain Marvel in the pages of (I think), "Mighty Avengers," when he ended-up drying in combat and indeed reverting to Skrull form.

It is always interesting to me when a comic ends up linking into another that it at first seems completely unrelated to. When it is an editorial mandate it can seem hamfisted and unnecessary, but at other times it works quite well, as with, "Captain Marvel," and hopefully coming up in, "Atlantis Attacks."