It is hard to believe we were ever so naive to think that Gwen Stacy would remain buried. But that was a whole week and a Marvel Rundown ago! Anything is possible… And when the main feature is the shapeshifter Mystique…no one and nothing can be trusted. It’s a week of intrigue and drama as we spotlight the conclusion of Declan Shalvey‘s mutant spy thriller! But be sure to stick around for the Rapid Rundown including future MCU Stars, the Thunderbolts, along with the start of year 2 of Ultimate Black Panther and the team of Marvel’s deadliest mutants gathered in Weapon X-Men!
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Mystique #5
Mystique #5Writer/Artist: Declan Shalvey
Color Artist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Since its first issue, writer/artist Declan Shalvey‘s Mystique has been a strange book. Utterly unlike anything else in the X-Men line and largely disconnected from it, this spy thriller has done its own thing. It is just one of many things about the title that has made it hard to pin down. On the one hand, it makes the story stand on its own merits without having to worry about any baggage from the other X-titles. On the other hand, that also makes this five issues feel like it lacks narrative importance, like the comic itself does not believe in what it has to say is worth remembering. Reading Mystique is kind of like enjoying a bag of Doritos with lunch. It tastes good in the moment, but leaves you unsatisfied and wondering if it was worth the time.
I can’t say this has been a bad series. Declan Shalvey’s stylish art is too cool for that, and his narrative fakery made for a nice cackle as Mystique reveals all of the intrigue she’s achieved over the five issues. You can see the locks clicking into place naturally, all of the plans-within-plans and fake-outs, while not surprising, are perfectly suited for the character and the Mission Impossible spy movie conventions Shalvey is playing with. The problem is, it is never particularly clear what Mystique, as a character, is really trying to achieve or why it had to be done so elaborately. While most of the questions around the plot and “Protozoa,” the inciting item of the book’s events, are answered here, it does not really make up for all of the confusion Shalvey intentionally sowed throughout the previous four issues. Worse, it’s done at the expense of the other characters, like Nick Fury Jr. who comes across in this story as both a rube and a coward.
As far as the construction and the artistry of a comic goes, Mystique has a lot going for it. Shalvey’s cartooning has a singular minimalism and precision, and his designs and layout evoke the kind of pop art contrast of Steranko-era SHIELD. There’s no doubt of his meticulous layouts and planning, with each page turn and panel composition designed with maximum ambiguity so that everything you see needs to be questioned. You never know if you can trust what you are looking at. It’s very cool, and the reveals here are impressive in the work that went into it all.
Where it all falls apart is in its failure to make clear why all of this matters so much to Mystique at all, or why she was willing to use her beloved Destiny as a tool for those ends. Shalvey goes out of his way to make it clear the SHIELD is basically an inefficient and hamstrung bureaucracy, and that Mystique’s main antagonist throughout this miniseries, Nick Fury Jr., was not even aware of her existence. So why go through all the trouble to erase all of those records, to the point of sacrificing her own wellbeing and risking her wife? Even the Twilight Zone style twist-ending where the person who was on the cusp of getting everything they wanted is punished for their hubris, which should have been a cool, chilling final image, is shorn of narrative weight because the emotional and personal stakes were never clear. All the focus on style robs Mystique of its substance. What becomes of Mystique is a memorable image, sure, but because this is such an isolated title there’s no reason to believe it will have lasting repercussions for the line and because we never got the personal insight into Mystique’s motivation it doesn’t land as an appropriate or ironic punishment for her crimes.
Mystique is not a series without merit. As I said previously, the art is too good to write off, and each of the issues are punctuated with masterfully staged setpieces. Matt Hollingsworth’s high contrast colors, the play between the blue and orange of Mystique’s design as an overpowering colorscript for the events of this issue showcase how much she has taken control of her game with Nick Fury. It’s another example of the visual strength of style. In many ways, the visuals pick up some of the narrative slack that the script lacks. Between the monstrous way Shalvey depicts Mystique’s transformations and the gradual fading from the sunset orange to midnight blue darkness of night, the art team showcases the character’s potential for brutality and her ruthless domineering. It’s just a shame the spine of the narrative was not stronger to really sell those ideas.
FINAL VERDICT: BROWSE. This has been a perfectly fine series and is no disaster, but comics are too expensive these days to settle for “perfectly fine.”
The Rapid Rundown
Cover by Leinil Francis Yu- Thunderbolts: Doomstrike
- Spinning out of One World Under Doom is the latest series Thunderbolts series with Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #1. The story is simple one: with Bucky Barnes realizing that he inadvertently led to the rise of Doom, seeks to destabilize The Latvian Dictator’s regime. However, Bucky quickly learns that there is no escaping DOOM for DOOM KNOWS ALL! Doomstrike is a continuation of last year’s Thunderbolt’s series with writers Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly returning and joining them is artist Tommaso Bianchi. Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #1 has quickly turned me around on the concept of One World of Doom beyond it being a rehash of DOOM 2099’s After Doom storyline. Lanzin and Kelly’s deliver a character piece on Bucky that I found to be deeply enjoyable. Bucky’s past as a WWII fighter and Winter Solider collide as he seeks to take down the newest nazi on the block. This is very much a spy comic, and I love it for that. Bianchi’s art is solid at conveying action and emotion. The big action set piece at the nuclear weapon reserve in space is an excellent example of both traits. You can see the emotional weight and resolve on Bucky’s face as he sets out to right his wrong all while drawing upon the mission that originally “killed” Bucky during WW2. It was very effective and felt larger than the parameter of this title. Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #1 is a high-quality tie-in comic that finds that sweet spot as both a single one-shot story and a part of an overall storyline that makes me want to read more of not just this series but the other Thunderbolt stories from Lanzing and Kelly. Bianchi is a relative newcomer to Marvel with only a handful of credits to his name, but he is going to be one of the next big artists for the company in a few years. This series is a great place to start. -JJ
Cover by Stefano Caselli- Ultimate Black Panther #13
- This is a huge understatement, but the current iteration of the Ultimate line is doing a fantastic job reexamining a core characteristic of the original and reshaping it into a fresh and exciting spin on the concept, and with UBP writer Bryan Hill has cooked up a comic gumbo with some serious depth. For the past few issues readers have learned that Vibranium, the backbone of Wakanda and Panther lore, is alive and with the help of the Ultimate Sorcerer Supreme Inan, T’Challa faces off with the newly formed consciousness of Vibranium. And if Hill is making the gumbo, the funky plating goes to Stefano Caselli. Almost half of this issue is artist Caselli doing his thing with the fast paced manga styled action as the Panther battles Vibranium. This all blends well with the reinterpretations of our favorite characters and their altered motivations. If I could ask Hill for anything it would be a mention of the world outside of Wakanda, not full on integration with the countdown clock, more like a quick check in or to trade tech for the upcoming fight. – GC3
Cover by Alex Ross- Weapon X-Men #1
- The work of writer Joe Casey is very much an acquired taste. A writer whose body of work can’t be called unambitious even if some of it never quite achieves its ambitions. If there’s a failing that can be said about that body of work, it’s that sometimes it’s too self aware. Last year’s Blood Squad Seven struck the perfect balance between knowing homage and critique of its early 90s inspirations. The same can’t be said of his latest work for hire piece with Marvel Weapon X-Men. The book which teams up Wolverine, Cable, Deadpool, Thunderbird, and Chamber tries to be a comic working off pure adrenaline. Except there’s a lot of plot, and self aware dialogue that tries to poke fun of self aware dialogue which brings the whole thing to a crawl. You can really feel the book come to a stop whenever a new character appears. Normally one can figure out whatever idea or concept Casey wants to attempt with a comic pretty quickly. Weapon X-Men though seems harder to crack. Is it an experiment in creating an old school continuity heavy Marvel book that ties into multiple books? There’s certainly a lot more references to events that took place on Krakoa, and even a nod to the current One World Under Doom. Is it a parody of hardcore action heavy books? It’s certainly more violent than most current X-books thanks to artist ChrisCross and colorist Yen Nitro lovingly rendering violence. And they at least try to make each page feel like it’s a runaway locomotive in the action scenes. That said it’s certainly a shock to see cover artist Alex Ross attempt the kind of expressionistic anatomy one sees from the likes of Rob Liefeld. In the end, it’s hard to tell what’s getting packaged here since somehow a lot happens but nothing of consequence yet. Casey might not be to everyone’s taste but it’s hard here to really defend his work. – DM
English (US) · 