Scot EatonReseñas

Amazing anthology of Indigenous & Native authors and artists bringing much needed depth and understanding to Marvel’s many Native characters. Even without complete story arcs in this collection, it makes me want to find more on many of the characters I’d not seen before (a Native Werewolf by Night? I want more on this guy!).

I read the first issue in the Marvel Voices: Heritage trade paperback and reviewed it thusly:

When he's not protecting his people by turning into a werewolf at night, Jake Gomez works as a janitor at an evil corporation. Seems like those two things are going to collide at some point. And Red Wolf is hanging out in the background keeping his eye on everything. Seems a little generic as far as first issues go, but I might pick up the series collection to see if it builds momentum.

So I picked up the series collection, and it did not build momentum. It was content to thrash around in evil corporation and mad scientist territory with a High Evolutionary rip-off serving as the big bad. The good guys don't get to build much character as they simply react to the bad guys.

I was a little confused that the Red Wolf used here is not any of the versions I'm used to, but rather a time and dimension traveling version from Earth-51920 who first appeared in the Battleworlds event. This is barely explained, but that is par for the course for pretty much everything about this series.

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One of those anthologies that is awesome in concept but a bit disappointing in execution as we are given shallow little glimpses of a lot of characters. A couple of the longer stories offered are first issues of mini-series where the rest of the story will be continued elsewhere.

There are a few gems that make it worthwhile to flip through it though.

The Watcher ~ 3 stars

Uatu provides a roll call of all the Marvel heroes with Indigenous roots. I'd forgotten about some of these characters, so it was nice to get a reminder right off the top.

Hitting Back ~ 2 stars

Echo gets called to help an alien race defeat a swamp god who is terrorizing him. A martial artist vs. a god? "Super easy, barely an inconvenience." More a prelude to developments in Maya Lopez's life than a story.

Multifaceted ~ 3 stars

New Mutants Mirage and Wolfsbane do the standard X-Men thing, showing up to help a new mutants whose first display of power has gotten him in trouble with the local authorities. Nicely done, though, with charming character interactions.

Blue Moon ~ 2 stars

In the distant past Silver Fox and Trigo, a wife and husband of the Blackfoot Confederacy, sabotage a fort so it will fail and slow down white settlers. Dark and depressing for many reasons.

The Unexpected ~ 2 stars

Indigenous members of the X-Men play whack-a-mole with a weird but easily defeated giant thingywhatsit. Less a story, more a statement.

The Tuurngait's Song ~ 2 stars

Snowguard of the Champions returns home to Nunavut to recruit help for her village against some sea witches. Stiff and silly.

Not Dead Yet ~ 3 stars

Set in the 2070s, American Eagle shows us that aging is not the same as being washed up when he stumbles into a bank robbery.

A Friend in Need ~ 2 stars

Another prelude to the upcoming series starring Maya Lopez introduces readers to River -- short for Riverwalker -- a young man who does the old "I see dead people" thing. Meh.

An Interview with Writer Rebecca Roanhorse

Roanhorse complains of "one-dimensional characters where there's always a spirit animal or someone's always changing into an animal." The editor maybe shouldn't have placed this article right before the next two stories.

Champions Annual #1 ~ 2 stars

Snowguard, a shapeshifter, returns to Nunavut for the second time in this collection to deal with still more mythical creatures endangering her hometown. She's a more interesting character this time around, but it's all so earnest it gets a little boring.

Werewolf by Night #1 ~ 2 stars

When he's not protecting his people by turning into a werewolf at night, Jake Gomez works as a janitor at an evil corporation. Seems like those two things are going to collide at some point. And Red Wolf is hanging out in the background keeping his eye on everything. Seems a little generic as far as first issues go, but I might pick up the series collection to see if it builds momentum.

The United States of Captain America #3 ~3 stars

This short excerpt introduces us to Joe Gomez, a Kickapoo construction worker from Kansas, who ends up using a tower crane to battle Bulldozer when the villain attacks his construction site. Gomez's regular guy rising to a moment of heroism is cool. It's a shame they didn't do more with him instead of making him yet another new Captain America in a series that gave us a half dozen or so.

Phoenix Song: Echo #1 ~ 2 stars

Oh, look, here's what those previous two stories about Echo were hinting at. I've seen Maya Lopez in various places around the Marvel Universe, but she never seems to be anything but angry. This first issue from her new mini-series seems to be more of the same at first, but might be moving toward something a little deeper. I'm not totally won over, but I might check out the full collection later.

Honor the Sacred ~ 3 stars

A nice tribute to Red Wolf with some dynamic art and design.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents:

• Introduction / Lee Francis IV, writer

Marvel's Voices: Indigenous Voices (2020) #1, cover art by Jim Terry
• The Watcher / Jeffrey Veregge, writer and artist
• Hitting Back [Echo] / Rebecca Roanhorse, writer; Weshoyot Alvitre, artist
• Multifaceted [New Mutants] / Darcie Little Badger, writer; Kyle Charles, artist
• Blue Moon [Silver Fox] / Stephen Graham Jones, writer; David Cutler, penciller; Roberto Poggi, inker
• Afterword / Taboo and B. Earl

Marvel's Voices: Heritage (2021) #1, cover art by Kyle Charles
• The Unexpected [X-Men] / Jim Terry, writer and artist
• The Tuurngait's Song [Snowguard] / Nyla Innuksuk, writer; Natasha Donovan, artist
• Not Dead Yet [American Eagle] / Steven Paul Judd, writer; David Cutler, penciller, José Marzan Jr., inker
• A Friend in Need [River] / Rebecca Roanhorse, writer; Shaun Beyale, penciller, Belardino Brabo, inker
• An Interview with Writer Rebecca Roanhorse / Angélique Roché

Champions Annual (2018) #1, cover art by R. B. Silva
• [Snowguard] / Jim Zub and Nyla Innuksuk, writers; Marcus To, artist

Werewolf by Night (2020) #1, cover art by Mike McKone
• [New Wolf Rising, Part 1] / Taboo and B. Earl, writers; Scot Eaton, artist; Scott Hanna, inker

The United States of Captain America (2021) #3, cover art by Gerard Parel
• [Excerpt featuring Joe Gomez, the Captain America of the Kickapoo Tribe] / Darcie Little Badger, writer; David Cutler, penciller; Roberto Poggi, inker

Phoenix Song: Echo (2021) #1, cover art by Cory Smith
• [Phoenix Song: Echo, Part 1] / Rebecca Roanhorse, writer; Luca Maresca, artist

Marvel Comics (2019) #1000
• Honor the Sacred [Excerpt featuring Red Wolf] / Taboo and B. Earl, writers; Jeffrey Veregge, artist

• Marvel's Voices Essay / Darcie Little Badger, writer
• Marvel's Voices Essay / Karla Pacheco, writer
• We Are Here! Indigenous Presence and Imagined Futures / Amanda R. Tachine, writer
• Variant Cover Gallery / David Mack, Afua Richardson, Jeffrey Veregge, Roy Boney, Jim Terry, Bill Sienkiewicz, Babs Tarr, and Maria Wolf, illustrators

One of the better Fear Itself books I've read. I liked the vignettes rather than an overall contribution.

Couple of my favorite artists on these (Bachalo, Ramos, Silvestri), some great covers. I don't have all of them, I'd love to have the set, but I think one is a key that I'm not going to want to pay for, so have to get lucky and find it in a $1 bin.

This was so cool that I didn't even get upset about the time travel (they avoided paradoxes as far as I could tell). Also I haven't read a lot of Cable comics so I found out that Scott Summers is actually his dad (not sure how his mom is). Loved that the different X-teams were all involved in this event and I liked the interactions between Scott and Xavier.

It irks me a bit how the continuities of these tie-in stories don't quite seem to jive with that of the main miniseries, but beyond that, this was pretty satisfying. The "Fantastic Four" (really Doctor Doom) story was engrossing and fun, with the characters feeling true to themselves even if in an alternate world. The "Iron Man" story was on paper similarly solid (though I found the artwork in it a bit confusing -- I shouldn't have to squint and double check the necktie colour to know if I'm looking at Stark Sr. or Jr.), though in spite of the strong emotional plotline I found the story a bit shallow somehow.½

I thought it was good story, but not great. Lot of different characters, which means it is difficult to establish much depth.

I wouldn't call Messiah Complex the best X-Men related storyline. Some of these characters are pretty far from my favorite X-Men related characters. Some of the relationships, motivations, and even art art fall short of my favorite examples of such things in X-Men related stories of the past. Some of the art was even semi-incomprehensible, in terms of figuring out what's supposed to be happening, and I'd expect Marc Silvestri to be better at body proportions after all these years.

Despite all of that, Messiah Complex is good enough to reinforce my long-standing, strong appreciation for X-Men stories. It addresses the major themes that have made X-Men stories so interesting, dives head-first into issues that make other mainstream comics creative teams flinch, and consistently leans on writers who can weave some serious, interesting tension into a tale, just like I came to expect from X-books in the '80s and early '90s. It kept me wanting to read all the way through like I was being led by the nose. It draws heavily on a lot of X-Men related in-world history, but still makes sense for me despite the fact I've been a very infrequent visitor to that world for most of thirty years.

The last pages set excellent tone to end the thing. I'm looking forward to reading [b:X-Men: Second Coming|8651048|X-Men Second Coming|Mike Carey|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1409504479l/8651048._SY75_.jpg|13522259] next.

Fantastic Four was pretty good. Kind of dark and creepy with the family lovin on Doom. It must be fun to write this alternate universe stuff because they can kill off whoever they want and it doesn't effect the regular continuum.

Iron Man was okay, but I got kind of sick of Howard Stark treating Tony like crap. I felt like It was a little over done. Still not sure why Tony made the decision he did in the end about Magneto.½

A good, complex story about the birth of the mutant "messiah" and the fight by everyone to keep here. Sometimes it gets a little too complex, as it cuts across all the mutant comics, and seems to involve everyone. And if you're not up on all the characters involved, the fight scenes get a chaotic and hard to follow. The art is hit-or-miss, and varied in style, but generally well-detailed.

I liked the individual stories in this but they didn't really gel into a whole. I was also disappointed that it focused so much on Black Widow, I was hoping to see some more Moonkight because I haven't read that many comics with him in them.

I had not read any of the more recent X-Men comics and so found this a bit confusing at time due to my lack of knowledge regarding the background for this narrative arc. Found the plotting weak and not the biggest fan of many of the illustrators.½

The best thing I can say about this Fear Itself crossover tie-in is that it made me want to read the Secret Avengers series with these characters. This group is an eclectic and interesting mix.

The book opens with Steve Rogers briefing the team on the extraction for an informant after a massive leak reveals the names of all informants (outright villains & otherwise). They can't save them all, so he has chosen this one person who seemed to act out of conscience. The mission does not go as planned. This story really had nothing to do with Fear Itself, but it was an intriguing look at this "secret" black ops team that has peaked my interest in reading the series. Next up, Beast finds himself helping a Congressmen get a message of hope out to the people during the crisis in DC. And lastly, Valkyrie leads a (human) military mission which calls to mind what her true purpose is.

The book also contains two Black Widow stories. Now, I always enjoy her character, but again the stories aren't necessary and do little to expand on the event. The first story has Natasha confronting an online tabloid about reporting that Bucky Barnes is not really dead. This story would be a total throwaway if not for its revealing look at how regular people view the heroes and their seeming immortality - "this isn't the first time Captain America has died." It was a cool idea that worked well in this brief story. Natasha's second mission is against a terrorist organization that is unhappy that the Serpent has upstaged them with his message of fear. They want to prove themselves. This story was heavy on the action, with an ending that fits perfectly with Widow's character. I liked it.

Overall, the stories in this collection were worth reading but are not worth the retail (or even discounted) price of the book. If you can get a cheap used copy, definitely pick it up.½

Very uneven collection that is not particularly new reader friendly. Decent art, decent coloring, but nothing in the stories that engage me enough to seek out more Secret Avengers trades. If your local library has it, get it there, otherwise there's so many other better trades you could be reading.

OK, so my interest in the X-Men mythos had been dwindling for some time now, and right up to this collection is about where I began to quit buying the monthly comics. The stories had been lackluster, and even though there seemed to be some potential, it just hadn't quite come through for me. And then came Messiah Complex.

The writers of Messiah Complex finally brought all of the wandering plot threads that had been hanging around for awhile and started to weave them back together into a cohesive and well constructed story. In other words, they sucked me right back in again.

After the events of House of M, there hadn't been a single mutant birth. That changed, however, with the birth of a mutant so powerful that she registered immediately at birth, instead of when her powers would have manifested themselves at puberty. Her birth brought together the Marauders, the Purifiers and the X-Men in a war over her very existence. Almost every X-Team out there joined in for the search for the child, hoping that she is a sign for the continued existence of mutants; the Purifiers consider her the Antichrist and are trying to kill her outright; and Sinister's interest in the child remains a mystery. Overall, a really great story and one that helped to get me interested again in the X-Men mythos.

Highly recommended, but only for X-Men fans.

Spoiler Alert!
After the events of Messiah Complex, Professor X is trying to piece his life back together, literally. After being shot in the head by Bishop, Xavier's body is taken by the Acolytes and Exodus repairs the damage to his brain, but isn't able to reconstruct all the memories in his head, so Xavier then goes on a mission to meet up with people from his past so that he can read their memories of him and try to reconstruct his life, even though he doesn't necessarily like the person that he was.

Overall, not a bad story. I actually enjoyed this Messiah Complex follow up story a little more than the story running concurrently over in Uncanny X-Men. The use of different artists when they were jumping back and forth between flashbacks and now was a nice touch.

During Messiah CompleX, Charles Xavier was shot in the head by Bishop (though he was aiming for Cable, who was fleeing with the first mutant child born since M Day). His body disappeared within seconds. Of course, since this is comic book land, no body means no death (and often times, a body still doesn't mean death!), so it's no surprise that Charles Xavier isn't actually dead. His brain suffered a lot of damage, and while he is technically "healed," he has lost many of his memories. This story is Charles trying to regain those memories, all the while fleeing from those who would end his life.

I think that the book is good, although not great. Charles Xavier has never been my favorite character, but after reading "X-Men: Original Sin" and enjoying that, I decided to backtrack and see what he'd been up to before that arc.

The art is all over the place; there are six pencilers involved in this trade alone, some of them good, some of them not so good. I'd have preferred that they'd stuck with one artist for the entirety of the arc.½

This seemed to be mostly one fight scene after another. In part probably because I haven't been following the x-men for about ten years. A good portion of the events I have no idea what happened. Pretty? Overly dramatic?

There are two separate stories in this collection, as is obvious from the title: House of M: Fantastic Four, and House of M: Iron Man.

I really liked the House of M: Fantastic Four story. Reed Richards died a long time ago, and Victor von Doom has created instead a "Fearsome Four" of superpowered humans (including himself). In the House of M alternate reality, Victor is an "ally" (but feels more like a servant) of Magneto and the House of Magnus. Of course, knowing Victor's personality, this chafes him until it's past bearing. I thought the art was well done and the story was good, too. I'd give this one four stars.

I didn't care so much for the House of M: Iron Man story. This is about the "birth" of Iron Man in the House of M reality. The art wasn't very good, and the story itself wasn't either. I was surprised, considering that I normally like what Greg Pak comes up with for comics, but this just fell flat.

Collects, X-Men: Messiah CompleX one-shot, Uncanny X-Men #492-494, X-Men #205-207, New X-Men #44-46 and X-Factor #25-27