Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe TPB

To just get it out of the way, I didn’t love this limited series. But I do love that Marvel published it. I’m not familiar with Christopher Hastings’ work, but he has a fun tone and a good grasp on the many characters that fill these pages. Longshot isn’t my favorite character, but again, it is wonderful seeing a C-level X-Man like this get a few pages to himself. Every character is someone’s favorite, so giving Longshot a limited series is a good move.

The story is a tad wonky. After getting a new hipster haircut, Longshot interacts with a cosmic cube, setting off a chain reaction that includes the In-Betweener splitting his aspects between Order and Chaos. Longshot’s probability altering powers naturally draw the two Betweeners’ interest. With one aspect running loose hunting down lucky people and the other in charge of SHIELD, Longshot finds himself trapped in a weird other Earth.

Amusing team-ups and battles ensure. All sorts of Marvel characters make appearances here, Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man. Deadpool, Scarlet Witch, and Dazzler. There are tons. Throughout, Hastings keeps the tone light and Longshot’s magnetism strong. Everyone loves being around Longshot, and it is hilarious watching him sort of coast through life on his appeal.

Jacopo Camagni’s art is solid, but not a ton more. He captures the sense of fun that a demon teddy bear requires, and he keeps the tone and action light, even when the situation seems dire. A crashing helicarrier seems to be a dramatic, heavy moment, but Camagni’s art keeps everything more like a Road Runner cartoon.

The carefree, disposable nature of this story makes it a good fit for Longshot. There are strong character moments scattered throughout. And the art is fine. That said, this is not a comic I’d run out of my way to recommend. It certainly isn’t "Evil," but I’m not sure if I can tag it “Good” either. In my old rating system, this would be Fair to Average.