It takes something pretty impressive for me to pay attention to my one-time employers at Marvel, but Al Ewing has consistently proved worthy of my attention. I read the first year of his new series Immortal Thor with artists Martin Coccolo, Ibraim Roberson, Greg Land and Carlos Magno and it's a brilliant examination of Thor and his nature as a walking myth. As in Immortal Hulk, Ewing has an amazing knack for wielding continuity in unexpected ways, such as his reinterpretation of Thor's mother Gaea and her motivations. There's also plenty of satire as Ewing's use of Roxxon mocks not only Marvel themselves but a certain thin-skinned billionaire too.
I also read Avengers, Inc. by Al Ewing and Leonard Kirk which was, strangely, a continuation of stories Ewing had begun in previous mini-series starring Ant-Man and the Wasp. This one was basically a science fiction mystery series.
The first big new series for me is Public Domain by Chip Zdarsky, a fascinating dramatic series about the tug-of-war between a comic book creator, the publisher who own his creation, his family and all the messiness of dealing with the comic book marketplace. I reviewed the first trade paperback here.
I tried the new Image series Free Agents by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza and Stephen Mooney on the strength of the Busiek/Nicieza writing team whom I've enjoyed in the past. I read through several issues of this series and it just didn't click for me; I hope to write a blog post about it in the future so that I can puzzle out why it feels cold to me.
Superman: Lost by Priest and Carlo Pagulayan was an excellent Superman mini-series by Priest, exploring how Superman might cope with the trauma of being lost in space for years, only to return to Earth shortly after he'd departed. Priest always used complain that no one would let him write Superman so it's a small triumph that this series existed at all!
I also read Le Horla by Guillaume Sorel, a fine adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's short story. I reviewed the graphic novel here.
And finally, there are the series that I continued with in 2024, including the mini-seriesSilver Surfer: Rebirth - Legacy by Ron Marz and Ron Lim; I reviewed the series here. And Image continued the new run of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero by Larry Hama, Chris Mooneyham and Paul Pelletier, which continues Hama's sprawling storylines from IDW. Finally, Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow by Stan Sakai is the latest Usagi Yojimbo series and it was up to Sakai's usual quality of excellence.
2024 was also a year in which several of my favourite comic book creators passed away, including Peter B. Gillis, Tom Luth, Paul Neary, Don Perlin and Trina Robbins.
Tomorrow: 2024 in film.
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