There have been a ton of Marvel releases over the last few weeks that I’m catching up on, so in this instalment of From the House of Ideas, I thought I’d call out a few that definitely caught my eye and were fun reading experiences.
Immortal X-Men #5 + X-Men Red #5 +: A few weeks back I talked about this summer’s massive Marvel crossover, A.X.E. Judgment Day, featuring the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals. The big storyline, which finds the Eternals looking to wipe out all the mutants do to excessive deviation, has started spiralling into individual books, and both X-Men Red and Immortal X-Men deliver upon the promise of the larger story. X-Men Red #5 should be of interest in particular, especially for fans of the X-Men over the past thirty years. It features the origin story of Exodus, who was first introduced back in 1993 in X-Factor #93 as a leading acolyte of Magneto’s. This issue gives us a good look at the character’s backstory, while also forwarding the conflict between the mutants and Eternals. For those of us that enjoy the political intrigue of the Quiet Council, there’s some excellent stuff in this issue.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking for less talk, more rock, X-Men Red #5 delivers that, as the mutants of Arrako take on the ridiculously powerful Uranus. This issue is full of action, and if you get a kick out of seeing the X-Men get their butts kicked, this is definitely the book for you. Writer Al Ewing uses a great countdown/countup mechanism to accentuate the length of the battle we’re reading in this issue, something that I really appreciated as it makes it clear just how dominent this villain in.
Amazing Spider-Man #900 – For as long as I can remember, Spidey has been my favourite character. I’m not sure why, exactly, though I definitely believe it has to do with his genuine good-hearted nature and the fact that, though he often screws up and makes mistakes, he tries to learn from his actions and always do better. There have been a ton of great runs throughout his 60 years of stories, which I’d imagine could be intimidating for a new writer when they take on the character. However, in the latest set of issues, writer Zeb Wells has done a great job in slyly establishing a new status quo for Peter Parker – why doesn’t anybody like him anymore? Working with John Romita Jr, one of the great artists of his or any generation, the current Amazing Spider-Man has been a lot of fun, and this oversized 900th issue is no different; well, other than Ed McGuinness handling the art, while JRJR delivers a great cover. Along with some back-up stories, including one from another illustrious ASM scribe, Dan Slott, this issue is a little more standalone-ish that the previous five in Zeb Wells’ run, which makes it a decent place to start if you’re so inclined. There are lots of familiar villains, some classic Spidey banter, and overall a genuine celebration of what makes this character so enduring.
