Adam Sorice Comic Reviews

Waid excels in detailed character studies and stories which build for years and so placing him on a series which Marvel appears to be positioning as the bulletin board of its new universe" offers cause for concern. If ANADA can boil away the publishing line's excess noise and focus on telling an engaging story with human voices and diverse perspectives, it still has the potential to be something special " just don't expect it to be breaking all-new, all-different ground.

These are topics that the X-Men were created to deal with but struggle to key into while they're dealing with the third extinction event facing their people in the last ten years. Perhaps once the Terrigen mists have finally lifted, Marvel editorial and Extraordinary X-Men's creative team will be able to find the storyline that the mutant race is well overdue.

While still not the most imaginative story in the X-Men canon, Extraordinary X-Men proves eager to make a decisive set of narrative choices that hopefully will unfold into an engaging and purposeful story for the mutant race. Between the confirmation that the X-Men have taken refuge in the Limbo dimension and introducing new charactersand conflicts such as the Inhumans, Old Man Logan and Cerebra, this feels like a more confident series with potential grow.

Pleasingly, Extraordinary X-Men seems to be beginning to find its feet as we progress and might just be able to course correct by the climax of this first arc into a confident little series that might deal face-first with the franchise's Inhumans debacle. (On the other hand, Cerebra could just keep shooting one-liners and I'd be fairly content.)

Altogether, the series has displayed a solid effort from its creative team and is sure to please long time fans of Howard (if.. they exist?) but the book has sadly failed to convince me that the character was worth celebrating beyond a post-credits sequence. Wherever Howard goes next following Secret Wars - the series is set for an All-New, All-Different Marvel relaunch with the same creative team and Zdarsky has noted that the 'private detective' angle is unlikely to return - I really hope the book develops a tighter narrative focus and lessens its obsession with nostalgia. (And at the very least, we've got a Squirrel Girl crossover to look forward to.)

Attilan Rising's early issues suggested a tale of political revolution set in a difficult world but this issue lets many of these intriguing themes fall to the wayside. Following the turbulent but rewarding journey of Queen Medusa in Soule's previous Inhuman series, Attilan Rising feels comparatively hyper-aggressive in a context with far less at stake. While next issue alludes a face-to-face confrontation between Medusa and Blackagar that could focus on rhetoric over fisticuffs, Attilan Rising reminds us we've come a long way with Secret Wars but aren't out of the woods yet.

Inhumans: Attilan Rising #4 Review Howard the Duck #5 Review Thors #2 Review Inhumans: Attilan Rising #3 Review View all

Whatever comes next for Marvel's Inhumans, I hope it's an improvement upon Attilan Rising. From newly transforming Inhumans around the world to scandal in the royal court and Medusa continuing to strike out into the world as a new kind of Inhuman leader, there's so many potential directions for great Inhuman stories " Marvel just needs to get started. Wherever they go, just pray it's not the same result as last time.

Where Silk goes next depends a great deal on the final issue of the current series and the first issue of the new series (out in October). While it's not yet clear whether the good or the bad sides of Cindy's characterisation will win out, it's very rewarding as a reader to see the dialogue at all and to root for the good " Cindy is one character that finally deserves to catch a break.

There's so much to love in this issue and with this character, I can only implore you to give it a shot and pick it up. This new volume of Silk is taking new chances on a character that already feels like a well-established favourite after just a year, never afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve or be passionate about the little details that are often overlooked. Silk is your new favourite superhero, if she isn't already.

The Mighty Thor is off to a confident and engaging start that feels sorely deserved after the turbulence of Secret Wars and the disturbing Thors. While nothing is certain, I have a funny feeling that Jane will be just fine " if she can take on cancer, Odin and Malekith all at once then a comic book series is well within her reach.

On the whole, this is a good issue of Thor- Aaron and artist Russell Dautermann continue to build a visually and politically charged world for Jane Foster where the stakes feel real and the characters emotionally complex. Nevertheless, Loki is a special case at a superhero publisher and deserves particular focus when being utilised by any creative team. At a time when Marvel's queer representation is so abysmal, any LGBTQ character with the sheer luck to have been nurtured in the past should be moving forward, not returning to old tricks.

The revelation that humans who have previously held the title of Thor on Earth are being systematically killed may have interesting consequences as the story progress but it's also yet another sign that this is not Jane Foster's story. While I have no doubt that Jane!Thor will enter the story at some point soon, it's becoming continually more difficult to contextualise this as a story about her on any meaningful level. The fact that Jason Aaron has developed a storyline about every Thor in history working together yet excluding the current female Thor is not only disappointing, it's becoming very difficult to swallow.