Writer: Dan Slott with Christos Gage
Artists: Salvador Larroca, Clayton Henry, Steve Uy, Tom Feister, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Patrick Sherberger
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $3.99
Release Date: 5th December
In the wake of Civil War Tony stark set about trying to provide authorised organised superhero groups for each state in the US. This book looks at the origins of some of the characters who’ve been swept up in that and almost incidentally provides a sideways view of what’s going on behind the scenes. The book is broken up into five smaller segments each concentrating on an individual character, or the case of the fifth chapter - a team, and although the stories are individually engaging there is no real throughline to tie them altogether other than the broad suggestion that there are unhealthy things going underneath the surface. In that sense the book fails as an annual to provide a coherent stand-alone story that might capture the interest and imagination of a casual reader and tempt them to buy into the monthly series. Regular series readers on the other hand get additional info and insights into some of the characters that they’ve been introduced to over the series.
The first story features Gauntlet and in it we find out how he came to wear the eponymous device and why even if he’s injured, the authorities can’t just cut him free and pass it on to another host. The basic story is okay and the art by Salvador Larroca is good without being spectacular. The story is somewhat let down though by at least two major clichés. The dialogue between Sgt Green and a wounded soldier “Did you hear me give you permission to die..” is one and the encounter between Green and a Hydra agent where both of their guns jam, resulting in a fist fight, is the other.
Story two is told as a flashback from a therapy session, another standard plot device, but an engaging look at how Armory came to have a Witchblade style all-powerful device. We get another look at the accident from issue #1 where MVP was shot and hints that there is more going on than meets the eye. The art by Clayton Henry and inked by Paul Neary, is arguably the best in the book. Neary’s an excellent inker and seems to bring out the best in many of the penciller’s he’s worked with over the years, Alan Davis and Bryan Hitch to name just two.
The third story shows us how Hardball got his powers and reveals at least one the threats that the Initiative is going to have to deal with in the future. The story is pretty tight and the art is subtle and muted. Its different from the rest of the book and while Uy has his own style, it manages to evoke Michael Avon Oeming’s work on Powers. I haven’t seen Uy’s work before and have to say it’s pretty impressive.
Story number four follows up on MVP again exploring his origin and the aftermath of his apparent death in #1. It also provides insights into the origin of the Scarlet Spiders.
The final story focuses on Pennsylvania’s team The Liberteens and is the most traditional story in the book. The team battle against a fairly hapless set of foes, throwing quips and bad puns around alongside their fists. It is, one presumes, deliberately kitsch so that when we see the behind the scenes debauchery (well to a degree – this isn’t The Boys) it does come as something of a surprise. The final reveal, though sinister, again hardly pushes the envelope of comic book storytelling
Overall the annual showcases some decent artistic talent and is an entertaining read, but it feels far from essential and kind of breaks the rules for an annual. It’s not quite essential to the main book continuity but will add a richness to it, but feels too tied in with the main book to offer a casual reader anything particularly engaging or to suck them in to the characters world.
John Davidson Despite working in IT for the last 20 years and collecting comics for even longer, he is married, has two young daughters and lives in Scotland. Ideally he spends his spare time reading and watching movies, but this is curtailed by the calls of child-rearing and part-time study, not to mention the 'call of the internet'.