April 2014 Marvel Comics Diamond Previews Review
Marvel Comics is deep in crossover territory in June 2014 as Original Sin continues to trek through the 616. Original Sin #3 from Jason Aaron (W) and Mike Deodato (A) looks to add another murder to the story thanks to a discovery made by the Winter Soldier and his team and the fourth issue teams Punisher up with Dr. Strange.
Let’s not forget the tie ins, in no particular order: Fantastic Four #6, All-New Invaders #6, Nova #18, Original Sins #1, and #2, and Original Sin #3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4.
But that’s not all. Avengers #31 takes the team into the future (again) to see what their actions today have created in the future.
In Mighty Avengers #11 we see another Avengers team from 1972 that no one knew existed. Part of me wishes that Marvel would stop shoe horning these “pivotal” past events into the timeline. Al Ewing is a capable writer and if anyone can make it work he would be one of a small handful that can.
Dazzler appears to team up with Deadpool in his Original Sin tie in in issue #30 of his series. Oh, and they fight vampires.
New Avengers Annual #1 focuses on Doctor Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe. With his recent name drop in Captain America: Winter Soldier it is clear that his profile will soon be on the rise. We aren’t that far from Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Frank J. Barbiere (W), and Marco Rudy (A) tell us a story of the good Doctor and a debt he is called upon to pay up by some Himalayan techno-monks.
In New Avengers #19 and #20 we get to see the continued battle between the Illuminati and the latest version of the Justice League, Marvel style. At the end of the day we all know which Earth will survive but the passive aggressive knock towards the Distinguished Competition looks like a fun thing to see play out.
Rick Remember (W) and Daniel Acuna (A) close out the epic “Avenge the Earth” storyline, with the fates of 7 different futures at stake. Uncanny Avengers #21 brings the final battle in June.
Let the Guardians of the Galaxy onslaught begin. The team of big screen heroes pays a visit to the pages of Silver Surfer #4 in June when Dan Slott (W) and Michael Allred (A) show us what happens when the Surfer goes to drop off his human companion at Earth. Apparently the Hulk and Doctor Strange show up as well. Defenders and Guardians in one book, with Allred providing the art? This sounds like fun.
Well the cat, or wolverine, is out of the bag. The Canucklehead who is the best at what he does has his days numbered as 3 Months to Die brings us the supposed final story of Wolverine before he bites the big one. No offence to the talent involved but comic book deaths really don’t mean anything to most fans these days, especially when it comes to one of the most bankable characters. We’ll find out the permanency of said death in three months. I, myself, am thinking it is going to be a “bold, new direction” in three months, and then a few months later when they do wave 4 or 5 of All-New our tough as nails mutant will be back to his familiar status quo.
Well surprisingly this month Marvel had a much shorter column than DC. With more launches coming from the big two in the coming months I expect to see some slightly longer columns. See you soon when we look at the rest of the publishers and their offerings starting in June.
