Teens

Please note that all images link to Amazon.co.uk

Welcome to the first edition of Journey Into Mystery, a semi-regular look at what's going on in the world of comics. For those wanting to know, the title of this column (or blog as you young ones'll probably prefer to call it) is taken from the Marvel Comics series that began in 1952 and is best known for introducing us to The Mighty Thor in issue #83 (1962).

So let's start with Marvel. Marvel has always been my favourite company, ever since I first started reading comics. All my most favourite characters reside in the Marvel Universe, and as such it's currently a really great time to be a fan.

The biggest thing going on there at the moment is Marvel: Civil War. Due to the actions of the New Warriors (some of my favourite characters back in the '90s) a whole lot of school kids got blown-up. This led the US government to implement the Superhuman Registration Act, meaning all super powered individuals must submit their identities and powers to the government or be arrested. The series is currently up to issue 4 (of 7) with #5 coming out in a couple of weeks.
The main events so far: Captain America believes that the act is a violation of civil liberties and has gone underground, forming a "Secret Avengers" to oppose the act and attempt to rescue any of their comrades who've been apprehended. On the other side we have Iron Man leading the pro-registration heroes in apprehending those who refuse to register. One of the goals of the pro-reg side is the formation of a 50-state initiative where the heroes of the US will be distributed evenly throughout the country. They've also constructed a prison in the Negative Zone for containing those who refuse to register. Being outside of the US, those detained there can be held indefinitely. A bunch of people online have been crying about people being 'out of character' and about the pro-reg side being portrayed as fascists (which, to this point, they kinda have), but I'm really enjoying the series. It's an epic story that carries emotional weight, and that's a great thing to find in comics.

Elsewhere in the Marvel Universe we have Annihilation taking place. At the moment of writing we've had a prologue, four 4-issue limited series (Silver Surfer, Nova, Super Skrull, and Ronan), and 3 issues of the main series (there're 7 in total). Annihilation is Marvel's space epic. Annihilus, ruler of the Negative Zone, has come to destroy our universe as it is slowly spreading into and wiping out the Negative Zone. Thousands of planets have been destroyed, races wiped out, and the United Forces (good and bad) are losing. I like Annihilation as it's an exciting, well-written story featuring some of my favourite characters (Nova, Quasar, Thanos) that don't get seen very often. Marvel's cosmic side hasn't been used greatly in recent years so it's nice to see the space characters getting some love (albeit tough love).

Also going on in space is Planet Hulk. The Illuminati (a big-brain super group consisting of Iron Man, Mr Fantastic, Namor, Black Bolt, Dr. Strange, and Professor X) decided un-unanimously to shoot the Hulk off into space to protect him and the civilians who are hurt every time he goes on a rampage. However, his ship got knocked off course and he ended up on a world where he was forced to take part in gladiatorial combat.
I came upon the Planet Hulk story kinda late, so I haven't read the first 8 parts (I believe it's a 15 part story), but I'd read many good reviews of it online and decided to check it out. I'm really glad I did. I never expected to enjoy reading The Hulk, I mean, I liked it when he turned up in other peoples comics, but I figured there was only so much "Hulk Smash!" I could take. (Though having said that, I really want to play the Hulk Ultimate Destruction game on PS2). The best thing about Planet Hulk has been the supporting cast, even though they're a punch of "people" you've never heard of before you're made to really care for them, which can't be an easy thing for a writer to accomplish.
Now being a fan of the series can't wait for my monthly dose of "Hulk Smash!" and am eagerly anticipating the next big Marvel event: World War Hulk!

And while I better leave something to write about next time I have to mention Daredevil. If your only exposure to the character has been the awful, awful movie starring Ben Affleck then you really need to check out his series. It is one the best comics coming out at the moment and it isn't part of any big event which makes it easier to get into.

And now onto DC, the other half of the "Big Two".

The biggest thing going on at DC at the moment is 52, the weekly, year-long series that bridges the gap between Infinite Crisis and One Year Later (after the end of Infinite Crisis all DC comics jumped ahead a year). I originally put my name down for the series because I was a fan of Booster Gold and The Question (two of the "six" main characters touted before the series started), but this has turned out to be one the most interesting series I've ever read from DC. There are great characters I never expected to be featured so prominently (like Animal Man) and some who I didn't think I'd like as much as I now do (like Black Adam). While the series has always been interesting, it is currently going really strong, having just passed the halfway point. Unfortunately for those of you waiting for the library to purchase the TPB, the series isn't being collected until all 52 issues have been released.

A great series that has just finished is Seven Soldiers. The library has the first 3 of 4 TPBs (1, 2, 3). This series was a collection of seven 4-issue mini-series (Shining Knight, The Manhattan Guardian, Zatanna, Klarion the Witch Boy, Mister Miracle, Bulleteer, and Frankenstein) and two bookends (Seven Soldiers of Victory #'s 0-1). The series is about seven soldiers (duh) who've been "chosen" to team-up and save humanity from the Sheeda (who are basically evil fairies), though they can never meet each other. Each limited series works on its own, but when read together the 30 comics go together to form a great epic story.

DC has also just relaunched its Wildstorm imprint (formerly an Image imprint) with some new versions of classic characters (such as Gen 13) and some continuing concepts (like the new WildCATs). Wildstorm was started in 1992 by Jim Lee and was bought by DC Comics in 1998. Wildstorm started back when I was first really getting into comics, and while I never bought any of their titles I would read them in store and considered their characters on par with those from Marvel and DC. One of my favourite comics of all time is Gen 13: Grunge the Movie. Of the revamped series I'm currently giving Gen 13 a try and getting WildCATs (which has only had one issue so far and isn't scheduled to have another one until March). Gen 13 is okay, it's a complete revamp of the characters so it kind of gets rid of most of the emotional attachment I have with characters. WildCATs seems really promising, very old school, which is what I like in the comics I buy.

Well that's all for now, I know it was kinda brief but bear with me while I work out the format for this thing. After a few of these I should be pretty up-to-date on the goings on in comic world and be able to provide you with more in-depth topics.
Any feedback: e-mail me.

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