It makes me sad that this is the last “clean-up” job
Christos Gage has assigned for Marvel at the moment. He’s been a favorite of
mine for years. Few people are as good as Gage at wandering around the Marvel U
explaining away uncharacteristic actions and editing gaps. (In fact, I think
Kieron Gillen is the only current writer who comes close.)
This annual focuses on Vision and his lack of use in any of the
core Avengers titles in Marvel Now. Viz had a big return at the start of AvX,
but he’s nowhere to be found on the current teams. Gage explains that by
playing Vision up against the Sunturion, a great, obscure Iron Man villain with
his own personal identification issues. This is classic storytelling, comparing
and contrasting your lead against a guy in similar circumstances who makes
different choices. While Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Giant Man and Quicksilver
appear, they are all there to accent the focus on Vision. Gage uses Quicksilver
the most effectively, not surprising after he wrote him so well in Avengers Academy
But even that clean-up isn’t enough for Gage. He also
explains how the Avengers let the Vision’s robotic body sit in a box for years
after Scarlet Witch destroyed him in Avengers Disassembled. Giant Man and Iron
Man explain away their inaction with different reasons, but both work
effectively at giving the Avengers an out on why they would sort of forget
about their friend during the Bendis era of Avengers.
Man, thinking about it, it really bums me out that Gage doesn’t
have any Marvel work coming up. He does important work, Marvel! You need to get
him on a supporting X-book, STAT!
Tomm Coker handles the art, and he’s looking a lot more computer-y
than he used to. He’s got a very Renato Arlem-look going on. That’s not a bad thing;
I really like his Captain Marvel (especially her helmet) and his black-and-gold
Iron Man.
Good
No comments:
Post a Comment