Tini HowardReseñas

Loved the team-up with the Avengers.½

Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

In the 2010s, the original Death's Head has experienced a bit of a resurgence at Marvel; one assumes this is because the 1980s kids who grew up on him are now in positions of creative authority themselves. This volume collects Death's Head's first self-titled comic series since the 1980s, which was a four-issue miniseries by Tini Howard and Kei Zama from 2019 where the original Death's Head meets the Young Avengers and the new Death's Head V. It was collected under the title "Clone Drive" by Panini, along with a reprint of Death's Head vol. 1 #1.

Death's Head may have been killed off and absorbed into Death's Head II back in the 1990s, but he's still alive and well here. My understanding—such as it is—is that this is because originally Death's Head died in comics set in 2020. Back in the 1990s, Marvel UK's 2020-set comics were supposed to be the "real" future of the Marvel universe... but now we're up to 2020, so they're clearly an alternate timeline, and thus Death's Head died in this alternate timeline, but not in the real timeline, meaning he is alive and well and carrying on as normal. Evelyn Necker of AIM was responsible for the original Death's Head's death, and Clone Drive gives us the Evelyn Necker of "our" reality, who has become obsessed with finding and creating different versions of Death's Head.

So anyway, this was pretty enjoyable. Death's Head is a fun character, but he is difficult to get right as a lead character; even his creator Simon Furman has struggled with that. What made Death's Head enjoyable in Transformers was the sense that he's outside it all, kind of. The Transformers may invest great significance in the was between Autobots and Decepticons, in their battles against Unicron, in the time-travelling antics of Galvatron... but Death's Head doesn't care about any of that, he just wants to get paid. But also Death's Head is at his best when he's a bit put-upon, when things get away from him and don't go as planned. So he's a great foil, but it's hard to make him a main character because how can you give your lead a vibe that what's going on around him doesn't actually matter? Furman occasionally managed this with the original Death's Head series; my favorite issue of this is the one where he gets involved in some guy's squabble over a treasure map with his wife, and it's clear Death's Head doesn't give a shit about any of this backstory or even who lives and who dies, he just wants the money.

Writer Tini Howard recreates that vibe here by combining Death's Head with the Young Avengers. Flung back in time from the future era of the original Guardians of the Galaxy (the 31st century), Death's Head takes refuge in the apartment of Wiccan and Hulkling. They are having relationship drama... and Death's Head just does not care at all. He just wants to get back to the future and stay alive. The teen angst of the Young Avengers is the perfect counterpart to Death's Head, because it's very clear he doesn't want to know about any of it, but they keep trying to explain it to him, and it keeps having an effect on him whether he likes it or not... plus, here's Death's Head V with his own existential angst!

Howard is a fun writer, and does fun stuff with the characters here; in addition to Hulkling and Wiccan, we also get Hawkeye, who was my favorite in the original Young Avengers run. There's good jokes and good angst and good twists. Artist Kei Zama, appropriately enough, got her start on Transformers, and she's adept here with human and robot alike, capturing Death's Head expressiveness. There are some neat layouts.

If there's a fault here, it's that I think the series wants the reader to care about the Hulkling/Wiccan drama more than I actually do. I'd rather be like Death's Head and be a bit above it all! The series ends with new, potentially set-ups for both Death's Head (with Evelyn Necker) and Death's Head V (with Hulkling and Wiccan). Alas, though, I don't think either character has had any subsequent appearances; specifically, Hulkling and Wiccan have returned but without any indication that "Vee" is still living with them.

My Panini trade paperback has an introduction by Brady Webb, which gives background on Death's Head that unfortunately repeats the apocryphal, untrue story about Death's Head's supposed original appearance in "High Noon Tex."

Death's Head and Marvel UK: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

Peggy Carter! Always good to see her. And I loved the new character Lizzie Braddock too. Hope to see her again in the future!

I'm one of the rare few who didn't actually like the big X-Men reboot event House of X/Powers of X. I liked the conceit, I just didn't care for the execution.

So Excalibur was a bit of a gamble, I picked the run that seemed like the most fun. And it totally was.

Betsy Braddock is no longer Psylocke and not really sure who she is. She leaves her non-mutant twin brother, Brian Braddock aka Captain Britain, at home with his wife and child and enters the new mutant homeland of Krakoa. Otherworld-ly shenanigans ensue. Betsy takes on the Captain Britain mantle from Brian, Rogue does a Snow White, and Rictor discovers some fellow Earthbenders druids who welcome him as one of them.

Most important: Jubilee's accidentally adopted baby Shogo is still here and he turns into a dragon in the Otherworld. Absolutely what I wanted in a X-Men comic.

Rachel Summers is the best! And I really liked Faiza Hussain too, and the exploration of who the public will accept as a "British" symbol. I don't really know enough about the Captain Britain corner of Marvel to understand or care about most of the main plot here, though.

Bloody hell this is good. Maybe it's because I'm also a mutant who was made to feel unwanted and unwelcome in the UK very recently, but yeah, Captain Britain fighting for a Britain that is not defined by hatred, bigotry, rampant nationalism and xenophobia hits hard.

I don't know for sure that Tini Howard is speaking to the nastiness of a post-Brexit "TERF island", but I can't imagine she's making these statements and these plots in 2021/2022 by accident. And I love her for it.

Because Betsy is fighting for the Britain I love. The one I moved halfway around the world to be a part of. And the one I watched slowly slip away and turn to hate and fear of me and mine. I wish I still had the hope irl that Howard has given me in the pages of Excalibur that things can change, that the UK can overcome this and that the country is more than its hateful leaders and vocal bigots. Where's the Captain Britain of Earth-1218 when we need her?

This was an interesting little series! Definitely better than the majority of reviews here make it out to be. And Howard does an impressive job of capturing the business jargon and corporate nonsense of the kind of ventures and events shown here. Definitely not my favourite book of this era, but still a very solid and fun read.

What do I say about this other than AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GAY SCREAMING

*coughs* ok, now that that's out of my system... This is an incredible story. Tini Howard's Excalibur was one of my faves of the Krakoan era, and this doesn't disappoint as a follow-up. The team is fantastic, the story is well told, beautifully drawn and paced, and so much fun to read. Highly recommended to anyone deep in the Destiny of X looking for a great segue into Otherworld for an old fashioned magical quest!

This series continues to be an excellent combination of old-school Excalibur style Magic & Mayhem with a healthy dose of "what's Apocalypse up to???" Thrown in. It's delightful and complex and I love it.

I know I'm giving out a lot of 5's right now, but hey, magic, intrigue, dragons, Braddocks? What more could a girl ask for?

A really solid collection of stories from character's pasts. Kitty Pryde at summer camp was particularly wonderful (and the reason I bought this collection in the first place)

I love this series so much. The magic, the deep continuity, just everything. A very worthy successor to the best of the original Claremont & Davis runs on Excalibur(vol. 1)

Ok, this was just absolutely delightful. And also sweet and heartwarming. Howard has Wiccan and Hulking and their relationship down pat and writes them beautifully. And Zama does a fantastic job with the art and page and panel designs to show abstract things like the disorientation of rebooting as a sentient robot perfectly. Just all around a wonderful 4 issues of comics.

Ok, yeah, that was delightful. I don't care one bit about the main King In Black storyline, but always here for gay space honeymoons.

Spring 2020 (April);

Dawn of X (Vol. 11-16)
X of Swords (full)
Reign of X (Vol. 1-7)

** As a spoiler warning, do not read this review unless you've read all of the above issues, not just the volume where you've found this review. **

I did a massive multi-volume, multi-arc blitz recently and so I'm going to just drop a lot of what's hot here & going to be copying it down across a million books. My favorite thing literally is now and forever the Polycule going on in Summer House. I love his universe and am certainly very curious about the things still hiding in the shadows.

I'm glad Kitty found her way through that thing. I'm glad we didn't lose Betsy while we were in the other universe where death *sort of* sticks. Excalibur remains the most arrestingly gorgeous art. I'm still not interested in the one and only story comics know how to tell with Beast. I love the whole council and can't stop cooing over Erik as the Left Hand/Charles as the right (and even more so the bits where/how Jean & Scott are off to reform the X-Men #goodboy).

Jeanne & The Twins, in general, are back and I'm super duper in love with that. I really madly adore that there isn't any vast soap opera drama with any relationships or old bad blood that can't be given a new chance in Krakoa. There's such a breath of fresh air reading a lot of the choices Hickman and his writers have made. Illyana remains a badass demon-sorceress at all times, and Ororo remains a goddess. I loved all the Giant-Size art across Emma, Jean, Ororo.

Spring 2020 (April);

Dawn of X (Vol. 11-16)
X of Swords (full)
Reign of X (Vol. 1-7)

** As a spoiler warning, do not read this review unless you've read all of the above issues, not just the volume where you've found this review. **

I did a massive multi-volume, multi-arc blitz recently and so I'm going to just drop a lot of what's hot here & going to be copying it down across a million books. My favorite thing literally is now and forever the Polycule going on in Summer House. I love his universe and am certainly very curious about the things still hiding in the shadows.

I'm glad Kitty found her way through that thing. I'm glad we didn't lose Betsy while we were in the other universe where death *sort of* sticks. Excalibur remains the most arrestingly gorgeous art. I'm still not interested in the one and only story comics know how to tell with Beast. I love the whole council and can't stop cooing over Erik as the Left Hand/Charles as the right (and even more so the bits where/how Jean & Scott are off to reform the X-Men #goodboy).

Jeanne & The Twins, in general, are back and I'm super duper in love with that. I really madly adore that there isn't any vast soap opera drama with any relationships or old bad blood that can't be given a new chance in Krakoa. There's such a breath of fresh air reading a lot of the choices Hickman and his writers have made. Illyana remains a badass demon-sorceress at all times, and Ororo remains a goddess. I loved all the Giant-Size art across Emma, Jean, Ororo.

Spring 2020 (April);

Dawn of X (Vol. 11-16)
X of Swords (full)
Reign of X (Vol. 1-7)

** As a spoiler warning, do not read this review unless you've read all of the above issues, not just the volume where you've found this review. **

I did a massive multi-volume, multi-arc blitz recently and so I'm going to just drop a lot of what's hot here & going to be copying it down across a million books. My favorite thing literally is now and forever the Polycule going on in Summer House. I love his universe and am certainly very curious about the things still hiding in the shadows.

I'm glad Kitty found her way through that thing. I'm glad we didn't lose Betsy while we were in the other universe where death *sort of* sticks. Excalibur remains the most arrestingly gorgeous art. I'm still not interested in the one and only story comics know how to tell with Beast. I love the whole council and can't stop cooing over Erik as the Left Hand/Charles as the right (and even more so the bits where/how Jean & Scott are off to reform the X-Men #goodboy).

Jeanne & The Twins, in general, are back and I'm super duper in love with that. I really madly adore that there isn't any vast soap opera drama with any relationships or old bad blood that can't be given a new chance in Krakoa. There's such a breath of fresh air reading a lot of the choices Hickman and his writers have made. Illyana remains a badass demon-sorceress at all times, and Ororo remains a goddess. I loved all the Giant-Size art across Emma, Jean, Ororo.

2021 Backlog;

Marking as completed series.
Reviews in the Dawn of X Compilations.

2020 Backlog;

Marking as completed series.
Reviews in the Dawn of X Compilations.

This was an okay read. I liked the premise and enjoyed the twist. Didn't like the artwork.

Cute one shot. I need more stories of my new favorite couple.

I need to read more of the Bloodstone clan. Loved me some Elsa.

Saddened by the premature cancellation of the Netflix TV show, I take a little consolation in this silly but enjoyable comic book tie-in. Our TV wrestlers butt heads with some serious and seriously athletic female wrestlers from another organization at a wrestling convention. It falls apart a little in the end as the wackiness piles up, but I like the art and a chance to visit with the characters.

And apparently there is a sequel comic series I can pursue at some point for one last hit of GLOW.

Captain Britain is having issues with Morgan Le Fay, well she's been causing problems since Arthur's time so she isn't going to stop now!
It's up to Betsy Braddock(back with purple hair) and Rogue, Gambit and Jubilee to help her out. Rictor also pops up to lend a shaky hand!
Whilst it's great seeing these five get some page time together and to be a focus of a book. Apocalypse plays a huge role to and to be honest, he bores me. Too powerful, too all consuming of the story, hopefully this title will forget him and let the five x-men thrive.

A lot of talking, and laying the groundwork for conflict / fights of the next issue. Also, subterranean druids.½