Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: CM Punk, Cullen Bunn, Drax, Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel, Matt Milla, Scott Hepburn
Written by CM Punk & Cullen Bunn
Art by Scott Hepburn
Colour art by Matt Milla
Letters & Production by VC’s Clayton Cowles
Published by Marvel
£2.85
The Guardians have saved the galaxy! Again! So, like they always do, they decide to go do their own stuff for a bit. Apart from Drax, a man who’s ‘To Do’ list always read:
- KILL THANOS
- SAVE UNIVERSE WITH FRIENDS
- KILL THANOS
So, when his friends leave, what does Drax do?
Yeah.
Punk’s much vaunted series debut cleverly matches him with Cullen Bunn, a writer whose work has been defined by his willingness to get his characters’ knuckles bloody. Together, the two create an instantly likable, and wonderfully grumpy, take on Drax that will be familiar to anyone who saw the movie. There’s the same seething rage, the same obsession and the same inadvertently sweet confusion at, well…everything that doesn’t involve killing Thanos. Or nuance. Or, possibly, killing nuance. Because if anyone could, it’s Drax.
Drax is, in some ways, the toughest Guardian to write. He’s always up for a fight, always driven and often charmingly literal. There’s not a huge amount of room for character back there but Punk and Bunn cram a good deal in. This Drax has excellent, sometimes intentional, comic timing and a touching quixotic belief in his own abilities. He’s also, for all the horrifying violence, rather innocent.
All of that is neatly captured by Scott Hepburn, who’s take on Drax is a little more belligerent than his big screen counterpart but very clearly has Dave Bautista’s presence and comic timing. Again, this is the challenge with the Guardians characters; writing and drawing to type but finding something new there. Punk, Bunn, Hepburn and colour artist Scott Milla all manage, and Milla in particular does a great job of keeping the riotous, lush colours of the MCU’s interstellar locations on the page.
Rounded out by typically great lettering from Cowles, this is a welcome, and very grumpy, addition to the Guardians family. Grab it before it grabs you.
Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: CM Punk, Cullen Bunn, Drax, Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel, Matt Milla, Scott Hepburn, VC's Clayton Cowles
Written by CM Punk & Cullen Bunn
Art by Scott Hepburn
Colour art by Matt Milla
Letters & Production by VC’s Clayton Cowles
Published by Marvel
£2.85
The Guardians have saved the galaxy! Again! So, like they always do, they decide to go do their own stuff for a bit. Apart from Drax, a man whose ‘To Do’ list always read:
- KILL THANOS
- SAVE UNIVERSE WITH FRIENDS
- KILL THANOS
So, when his friends leave, what does Drax do?
Yeah. That.
Punk’s much vaunted series debut cleverly matches him with Cullen Bunn, a writer whose work has been defined by his willingness to get his characters’ knuckles bloody. Together, the two create an instantly likable, and wonderfully grumpy, take on Drax that will be familiar to anyone who saw the movie. There’s the same seething rage, the same obsession and the same inadvertently sweet confusion at, well…everything that doesn’t involve killing Thanos. Or nuance. Or, possibly, killing nuance. Because if anyone could, it’s Drax.
Drax is, in some ways, the toughest Guardian to write. He’s always up for a fight, always driven and often charmingly literal. There’s not a huge amount of room for character back there but Punk and Bunn cram a good deal in. This Drax has excellent, sometimes intentional, comic timing and a touching Quixotic belief in his own abilities. He’s also, for all the horrifying violence, rather innocent.
All of that is neatly captured by Scott Hepburn, who’s Drax is a little more belligerent than his big screen counterpart but very clearly has Dave Bautista’s presence and comic timing. Again, this is the challenge with the Guardians characters; writing and drawing to type but finding something new there. Punk, Bunn, Hepburn and colour artist Scott Milla all manage, and Milla in particular does a great job of keeping the riotous, lush colours of the MCU’s interstellar locations on the page.
Rounded out by typically great lettering from Cowles, this is a welcome, and very grumpy, addition to the Guardians family. Grab it before it grabs you.
Filed under: Exquisite Reviews | Tags: Alasdair Stuart, CM Punk, Frank Martin, Jason Aaron, Joe Sabino, King Thor, Marguerite Sauvage, MewMew, Mjolnir, Noelle Stevenson, Rafael Albuquerque, Rob Guillory, Timothy Truman, Young Thor
King Thor
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Timothy Truman
Colours by Frank Martin
Letters by Joe Sabino
Thor
Written by Noelle Stevenson
Art by Marguerite Sauvage
Letters by Joe Sabino
Young Thor
Written by CM Punk
Art by Rob Guillory
Letters by Joe Sabino
Cover by Rafael Albuquerque
Variants by Rob Guillory and Marguerite Sauvage
Published by Marvel
3.60
Three Thors, one annual, no waiting. This is a perfect sampler for the current Thor title and demonstrates just how good it is right now, not to mention how versatile. That’s shown from the first page of the first story, as Truman’s incredible artwork illustrates a surprising story for King Thor. Set in the distant future, it sees King Thor ill at ease on the occasion of his birthday and the Girls of Thunder, his granddaughters, setting off to do something about it.
That’s it. There’s no huge arc to the thing, no massive set up, just a gentle, sweet character piece that shows that even at the end of time, kindness matters. It’s moving without being forced and a powerful opening to the book.
Next up, Noelle Stevenson gives us a story that features the current, female Thor in a way that’s clever on a couple of different levels. The first is that it uses the Warriors Three to embody and engage with the reluctance to bring in this incarnation of the character. That’s especially clever as none of them are mean about her (And plenty online have been, thus bearing out Gabriel’s Law) but all of them want her to prove she’s worthy.
That’s crap, of course, because if she wasn’t worthy she wouldn’t wield MewMew. But the Warriors insist and Thor, being Thor, agrees to prove herself.
Again.
And does.
Again.
This is the best story in the book, because Stevenson doesn’t just have Thor prove herself, she has her do it her way. She’s different now, smarter, kinder and far more subtle but still absolutely willing to throw down if needed. The difference is, this Thor often doesn’t need to and her enemies, on the page and in the real world, mistake that for not being able to. She proves them all wrong here in a story that’s elegantly illustrated by Sauvage and serves as a perfect introduction to this great new take on the character.
And then there’s Punk. CM Punk, legendary pro wrestler, magnificent wiseass and soon to be UFC athlete is one of the best talkers in his former (and current) business. Based on this script, he can back up those words too. His story is the lightest; a drinking contest between Thor and Mephisto with a light sprinkling of Loki, but it’s also a difficult script to land. Punk does so and makes it look easy, keeping the jokes coming thick and fast but also giving each one time to breathe, Giullory’s art is the perfect, gangly accompaniment and there’s not a gag that fails. A strong start to Punk’s comics career and a strong finish to a very strong collection of stories. The Norse God of Thunder has rarely been better than he (or she) is now and if you were curious as to why, all you have to do is pick up this annual. Varied, clever and huge fun from cover to cover.
Travelling Man's Blog 