A word of warning, though. Each comic review contains spoilers, so if you haven't read the issue yet and don't want to be spoiled, then by all means please don't read any further! If you have, then I hope youenjoy the review, and please feel free to comment with your thoughts.
First up...
CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS #1
Written by Al Ewing
Art by Paco Medina and Juan Vlasco/Thomas Labourot
"The Life I've Left Behind Me"
Spinning out of SECRET WARS comes CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS #1, a new ongoing series revolving around a cosmic game run by the Collector and the Grandmaster. Each Elder of the Universe pits a team of five heroes (with two support members) against one another for a huge prize: Isotope-8, which is a super-substance from the Neutral Zone -- right on the very edge of space-time itself -- formed of natural 8-atom clusters. Vast amounts of the substance were created as a by-product of universal rebirth after SECRET WARS; and because of its cubic structure, “Iso-8” is stable in normal space, which makes it very good for building cosmic cubes and other items of extraordinary power. As we open the series, the Collector has most of the Iso-8 being fought over, but the Grandmaster does still have a fraction of it.
The Collector and the Grandmaster both have Summoners, who are responsible for bringing to the game any superhero or super-villain of their choice from any parallel earth or timeline in the entire omniverse. The Collector's Summoner is the Maestro (formerly of Earth-9200, which was destroyed during the incursions that started SECRET WARS, and the Maestro has chosen to use only heroes from the Prime Earth (formerly Earth-616), while Summoner of the Grandmaster -- Jake Gallows, aka the Punisher of the alternate reality year of 2099 -- has chosen to use anyone from the wide variety of multiverses and timelines existing throughout reality, mostly because the Grandmaster isn't allowed to choose from the Prime Earth by the other Elders.
The entire Contest takes place in the Battlerealm, which contains the remnants of Battleworld after it exploded at the end of SECRET WARS.
We begin with Outlaw, aka Nigel Higgins, who first appeared in THE PUNISHER II#64. He is also known as "the British Punisher." He is currently living in Acomb, North Yorkshire, England. He's basically retired from the Punisher business, as he had begun to regret the decision that it had to be him to decide who lives or dies. His retirement is dashed, however, when he is forcibly summoned by the Maestro to the Battelrealm to participate in the Contest. He arrives on what is left of the Valley of Flame where he comes a match already in progress. Iron Man and Gamora from the the Prime Earth are engaged in battle against Venom (formerly of an Earth where he killed Peter Parker), Joe Fixit (the grey mobster version of the Hulk formerly from an unknown earth destroyed during SECRET WARS), and Moon Boy and Devil Hydrasaur (both likely from the Hydra Empire domain of Battleworld). Iron Man's armor is damaged during the battle, but with the help of Outlaw the heroes win. Moonboy and Devil Hydrasaur are eliminated from the Contest, while Venom and Joe Fixit are sent back to the Grandmaster's location. Our heroes are then transported to the Collector's joint, where they meet the Maestro, as well as the other members of the team, including Guillotine.
Meanwhile, on the Prime Earth, the South Korean heroine called White Fox investigates the death of Gun-R, a fellow hero, leading her on an eventual collision course with the Contest of Champions!
Guillotine gets her own back-up story where we learn her name is Jeannine Sauvage. She's French and is a vigilante, using her cursed sentient sword (called La Fleur du Mal) to rid Paris of its evil elements. Due to the dark legacy surrounding others who had her name and weapon before her, Jeannine's got a bit of a dubious reputation and is wanted by the police; more specifically, her fiance, Marc Jubert. In this particular story, Guillotine helps capture someone called the Imp Prince, after which she confronts her sword for trying to influence her into killing the Imp Prince to appease its hunger for blood. However, Guillotine is then captured by a Summoner and brought to the Battlerealm to participate in the Contest as a member of the Collector's team.
This issue is a great start to what I think of as a continuation of the Secret Wars theme. I've read that some readers thought this should have been a Secret Wars mini-series along with the rest of them, but I'm glad it came out afterwards so it can tell its own story. Battleworld may be gone, but now there is only the Battlerealm.
The characters chosen so far are nice, although I could personally do without Venom, alternate counterpart or otherwise. Iron Man and Gamora are the bigger heroes involved here, although this will prove to be problematic since it was said in the ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT MARVEL POINT ONE #1 that a hero who would be noticed missing, one with too many important ties, shouldn't be taken for the Contest. We'll see more about this in subsequent issues.
Another character of note is Stick, the former mentor of Daredevil and Elektra. He is alive and well here, so it seems, but we'll learn more about how he returned to life in a future issue as well.
Isotope-8, it should be mentioned, actually originated in the Marvel Avengers Alliance game on Facebook, which I enjoy playing on a daily basis. In this game, there are wide varieties of Iso-8, both in properties and in color. Right now, in the comics, we've seen in this book and THE ULTIMATES only one or two colors.
And so, the Contest of Champions begins...
Meanwhile...
CIVIL WAR II: X-MEN #1
Written by Cullen Bunn
Art by Andrea Broccardo
As far as I'm concerned, this is really an X-Men event, with some ties to Civil War II. They could have published this as a four-issue crossover story in the main books, EXTRAORDINARY and UNCANNY, but doing it this way is much better so people don't have to get the issues of the book they don't get, if they don't get them both. Like me. I don't get EXTRAORDINARY X-MEN. Just UNCANNY X-MEN.
Essentially, Magneto, Psylocke, M, and Sabretooth go to Dubai to rescue some rich mutants who have locked themselves away in a fortified tower to escape the Terrigen Mists, which have made their way to the city. Magneto makes it so the poor mutants get in on the protection, too, before the entire group are attacked by Prime Sentinels from the Operation Zero Tolerance/Bastion period of UNCANNY X-MEN in the 1990s. One of them blasts a gigantic hole in the window,so now Magneto and his teammust get everyone to safety before the Mists overwhelm them all. But doing this and fighting off the Prime Sentinels proves to be difficult, until Storm and her Extraordinary X-Men arrive to lend a hand. The Sentinels are eventually destroyed and the mutants are saved, but Magneto isn't pleased when Psylocke and M discover (through telepathy) that Storm was tipped off by an Inhuman precognitive named Ulysses.
In fact, he's incensed. He blames the Inhumans for the Terrigen Mists sterilizing and killing mutants, and he refused any sort of help from them, while Storm thinks mutants and Inhumans should try and get along and help one another. I have to say that Magneto's concerns are valid, which is interesting since he normally spends time trying to terrify the human race in one way or another. But Storm's opinion is also valid. Mutants and Inhumans should try to work together to solve their problems, instead of just punching and beating one another. We're getting a new variation of the old Xavier/Magneto conflict here from the old days.
The issue ends with Magneto, Psylocke, M, and Sabretooth back at their base in the Savage Land plotting what to do next. Nightcrawler suddenly appears and announces he is not here to fight, but to join them!
A nice start to an interesting storyline so far. This book is showing our first ever meeting between the Extraordinary and Uncanny squads. We even see a little bit of nice reactions between some of the members, like when Nightcrawler voiced how happy it was to see Psylocke again, and when Old Man Logan and Sabretooth exchanged their crabby banter towards one another.
The art by Andrea Broccardo was very nice to look at as well. Similar in style to that of Paco Medina, I think.
I've been enjoying Bunn's run on UNCANNY X-MEN so far. I like the condensed membership, with Magneto, Psylocke, M, and Sabretooth as the main roster (with Archangel waiting in the wings, so to speak). Phantomex and Mystique were shown in various promos at the beginning, but they have so far proven to be just supporting players in sub-plots.
Plus, Bunn seems to be going fore a 90s feel here, using villains and supporting characters from that time period, such as the Dark Riders and Xorn. And that trend continues in this CIVIL WAR II: X-MEN mini-series with the return of Bastion's Prime Sentinels. Not that the 90s period of Marvel was something grand, mind you, but I appreciate someone who did like some of the characters introduced during that time (because they grew up reading about them, for one reason) and are using them in their stories now.
Come back soon for more various reviews!
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