The Beat |
- New Mark Brooks TRIAL OF MAGNETO variant cover features Krakoa’s murder victim
- REVIEW: In MADE IN KOREA #2, the twists begin
- Recap: LOKI S1E4 – “The Nexus Event”
- A Nexus Event comes to Springfield in THE GOOD, THE BART, AND THE LOKI Marvel/Simpsons crossover short
- A cosmic force has a new host in PHOENIX SONG: ECHO from Roanhorse & Maresca
- Small Press Spotlight: MR. BUTTERCHIPS relaunches thanks to SLG PUBLISHING
- Six writers win the 2021 Finger Award posthumously
- The Marvel Rundown: X-FACTOR #10 finishes out the series in style
- INTERVIEW: The McElroys & Carey Pietsch talk THE ADVENTURE ZONE: THE CRYSTAL KINGDOM
- Report: Comics had their biggest year ever in 2020 despite the pandemic
| New Mark Brooks TRIAL OF MAGNETO variant cover features Krakoa’s murder victim Posted: 30 Jun 2021 02:15 PM PDT (Spoilers ahead for X-Factor #10. Do not continue reading if you wish to avoid knowing what happens.)The Hellfire Gala officially ended in this week’s X-Factor #10, and it’s safe to say the storyline went out with a bang. The conclusion of the issue revealed the victim of a murder following the events of the gala, and set up the forthcoming The Trial of Magneto five-issue miniseries from X-Factor writer Leah Williams and artist Lucas Werneck. Now Marvel has revealed a variant cover for the first issue of the series by artist Mark Brooks, that features Magneto and the person of whose murder he will stand accused. (Last chance! Spoilers ahead! Turn back now!) . . . . .
 At the close of last week’s S.W.O.R.D. #6 by Al Ewing, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia, and Ariana Maher, in a scene set after the Gala had ended, Wanda arrived on Krakoa and had a conversation with Magneto, who she had previously believed to be her father. Seen above, the conversation ended with Magneto reaffirming their relationship, and promising her he would work towards getting her acceptance on Krakoa. A panel in the same week’s Way of X #3 by Si Spurrier, Bob Quinn, Java Tartaglia, and Clayton Cowles, seen below, revealed that a very inebriated Nightcrawler was nearby for Magneto and Scarlet Witch’s reunion.  It seems likely that someone else may have overheard the reunion as well, and had, perhaps, a less than ideal reaction that resulted in Wanda’s death. Who killed The Scarlet Witch? And more importantly, with her widespread popularity due to the success of Disney+’s WandaVision, will she even stay dead? They can resurrect anyone they want on Krakoa, after all, but would they ever extend the resurrection protocols to include one of the most hated figures in mutantdom? It’ll be interesting to see how all of this plays out, and what it might mean for the larger Marvel Universe beyond Krakoa’s shores, once The Trial of Magneto #1 arrives in August. The post New Mark Brooks TRIAL OF MAGNETO variant cover features Krakoa’s murder victim appeared first on The Beat.  |
| REVIEW: In MADE IN KOREA #2, the twists begin Posted: 30 Jun 2021 02:00 PM PDT  Made in Korea #2Story by Jeremy Holt At the conclusion of the previous issue, the capability of Jesse the Proxy started to become clear… but in Made in Korea #2, we begin to understand that not everyone will perceive Jesse's possibly limitless potential in the same manner! Explorations of JessePerhaps the most interesting element of Made in Korea's sophomore issue is its fascinating exploration of the core concept of Proxies, as embodied by Jesse. After devouring every book she can get her hands on, from Infinite Jest to Slaughterhouse-Five, she insists that her parents allow her to enroll in school.
Seeing how she interacts with her teachers and students is fascinating, and plays out differently that you might expect. Meanwhile, her home life remains engaging as well, as her parents navigate how to deal with a child who has completely boondoggled any expectations they might have had for her… especially given that she was "ordered" online and delivered to their door. Tracking Four-Five-Nine-FourMeanwhile, Chul begins to recognize that he's made a mistake (or perhaps even a series of them). After a bit of exposition that reveals Chul's personal connections to some of the other aspects of artificial life that are unspooling in the world of Made in Korea, the scientist responsible for Jesse's genesis heads off to the United States in search of what he perceives to be his own personal creation.
But really, Chul, how did you think Suelynn would react to a stranger showing up and claiming to be from the company that manufactured Jesse? Nevertheless, Chul's arrival in the Western hemisphere surely spells certain complications for Jesse in subsequent issues, and this subplot is clearly adopting a swift collision course with Jesse's family life. The Encroaching ShadowWhether the story is following Jesse or Chul, Made in Korea is always giving the reader a ground-level view of the proceedings, and that makes the brave new world that we're being given a glimpse into a very strong sense of verisimilitude, even when dealing with robotic children or (perhaps the most farfetched of any concept in the comic) a United States government that seems to have successfully implemented gun control. As with the previous issue, the gorgeously rendered art throughout Made in Korea #2 will take your breath away, with the unique texture layer giving the book a distinct and stylish flare.
And the final pages of Made in Korea #2 will take your breath away in a different way, with a brutal hint of what's to come in the next issues. Setting up an extremely high stakes conflict that could have global consequences, you can bet that this cliffhanger will leave you on the edge of your seat waiting for Made in Korea #3. Back Matter World BuildingIn my review of Made in Korea #1, I failed to mention the back-up comic (as it was not included in my review PDF, and I did not get to my local comic shop until after the review had been posted). However, in the back matter of the first issue, Ron Chan delivered a three-page tale about how a family's history is affected by the presence of a Proxy over the decades. It's an interesting perspective that delivers a whole lot to think about in just three pages, and it gives us a chance to see a different element of the sci-fi conceit at the core of the series. In Made in Korea #2, we get "A Lure," a back-up comic by Ben Cohen, which forces the reader to acknowledge the artificial, computerized nature of the Proxies by highlighting the "Factory Reset" feature that is built into each of them. These back-up comics add a delicious layer of texture to Made in Korea's world building, and allow for alternate perspectives – an outstanding inclusion for an outstanding series. Made in Korea #2 is available at your local comic shop beginning today. The post REVIEW: In MADE IN KOREA #2, the twists begin appeared first on The Beat.  |
| Recap: LOKI S1E4 – “The Nexus Event” Posted: 30 Jun 2021 12:30 PM PDT LOKI S1E4 – "The Nexus Event""When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist." – Madeline Miller, Circe  This recap contains spoilers for the first four episodes of Loki. If you haven't seen the episode yet and want to avoid learning what happens, leave this page now. If you'd like to read all the recaps for the show, you can do so at this link. Previously on Loki: Earlier this week, Loki writer Michael Waldron revealed that "Kablooie" brand gum is a reference to Calvin and Hobbes:
After the green version of the opening Marvel Studios logo (standard theme music edition), Loki S1E4, "The Nexus Event," opens on Asgard. Or an Asgard, anyway: we soon see a young Sylvie (Cailey Fleming) playing with her toys. But soon, a Timedoor opens behind her and a Hunter version of Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) steps through. Renslayer identifies Sylvie as "their Variant" and arrests her for crimes against the Scared Timeline before reseting her timeline, disintegrating everything in it (including little Sylvie's adorable Fenrir toy… this is as bad as those Imperials messing up Lumpy's stuffed Bantha during Life Day). Soon, Sylvie has been brought into the Time Variance Authority and is subjected to the same intake procedures we saw our Loki Variant (Tom Hiddleston) undergo in the first episode of Loki. Like our Loki Variant, she sees another Variant being brutalized by a guard, and shrieks for someone to help him… but this institution isn't in the business of helping individuals. After being subjected to the Cat man and the robot-melting device (apparently Sylvie is not a robot, either – better luck next time, Arcade), we see Sylvie in Time Court. However, as she is about to take the stand, she stomps on Renslayer's foot and absconds through a Timedoor with the Hunter's TemPad.  Years later, in the present day (if that's how time works in the TVA), we see an anxious Renslayer standing within the golden elevator. The doors open and she steps into a mist-filled room. The three Time-Keepers sit upon glowing thrones… And we cut to the opening title. LOKI S1E4 – "The Nexus Event"After the opening title, we seem to have had a time skip (again, is that how time works in the TVA): Renslayer comes back out of the elevator and meets Mobius M. Mobius (Owen Wilson), who immediately beings demanding information. Renslayer tells him that the Time-Keepers blame Renslayer for Sylvie's machinations, and she emphasizes that they are the only things standing between the Sacred Timeline and multiversal chaos. Still, Mobius insists that he needs access to Hunter C-20 (Sasha Lane): he wants to know what her verbal repetition of "it's real" meant… but Renslayer tells Mobius that C-20 is dead. Renslayer explains that C-20 had been enchanted, giving her the brain scramblies. Mobius insisted that she seemed fine, but Renslayer tells him that her condition declined after she returned to the TVA, and explains that it was kept a secret to avoid general panic. In other words, Renslayer is acting extremely suspect. Meanwhile, back on Lamentis, our Loki Variant and Sylvie are sitting together on a few rocks as more meteorites rain down from the purple skies. The pair reflect on their situation, and Sylvie says that it was simply the fact that she was born as the Goddess of Mischief that she created a Nexus Event: her gender was sufficient to create a branch off the Sacred Timeline, that eventually attracted the attention of the TVA. Sylvie confirms that she has spent her life on the lam from the TVA, hiding out in various apocalypses, and laments that she will now apparently be dying on Lamentis-1. In the TVA control room, Mobius and Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) anxiously watch the monitor in the Sacred Timeline control room. As more debris falls towards the surface of Lamentis-1, Sylvie wonders if Lokis are meant to lose, and our Loki Variant insists that they are not losers, they're survivors – even in the most bleak of circumstances. That's when the TVA begins to detect Variance Energy on Lamentis-1 in 2077. As the collision goes full Majora's Mask, our Loki Variant and Sylvie hold each other's hand. Our Loki Variant and Sylvie gaze into each other eyes, and the branch off the Sacred Timeline grows even more pronounced, attracting the attention of Mobius. B-15 confirms she's never seen anything like it, either. On Lamentis-1, just before our Loki Variant and Sylvie are crushed by the debris of the oncoming shockwave, two Timedoors open for the Tricksters… The Man in Black Fled Across the Desert…Sylvie and our Loki Variant are subsequently apprehended, placed in Time Twister collars, and brought back to the TVA. The pair are separated, with more Minutemen guarding Sylvie than Loki (leading the latter to complain to Mobius, who accompanied him).  Mobius and Loki arrive at Time Theater 5, where Loki wonders which "folksy, dopey" insult Mobius will hurl at him next. Mobius calls him an asshole and a bad friend and opens a sinister red Timedoor. Before Loki is forced through, he tells Mobius that the TVA is lying to him… which as far as we know, is accurate! Nevertheless, Mobius sends him through the door. Inside, Loki finds himself in an Asgardian-looking courtyard. Soon, Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) appears. She's livid with Loki, apparently for cutting her hair, and she verbally eviscerates him before punching him in the gut and moving on.
On the other hand, this is a great way to symbolize the central crisis of Loki's character: just when it seems like he'll finally grow beyond his shortcomings, he makes the bad decision again, stealing the Cosmic Cube, stabbing an ally in the back… or even just violating the trust of a friend by cutting her hair when she was asleep. But thanks to the bad-memory time loop, Loki is subjected to the consequences of his bad decision over, and over, and over again… a pretty awful punitive measure, if you think about it. And Loki will apparently have a lot of time to think about it… Elsewhere in the TVAMobius visits Renslayer's office as Loki softens in the Time Cell. Mobius wants to interrogate Sylvie as well as Loki, but Renslayer denies his request, saying she's too dangerous. Clearly, Renslayer is hiding something, but Mobius won't let it alone, but Renslayer just tells him to "work your Loki."  Instead, Mobius visits B-15 in front of Time Theater 47. Mobius remarks to B-15 that they've brought in Kree, Titan, and vampires, but no Variant has posed the same challenge as this pair of "orphan demigods." B-15 and Mobius compare notes, and both have become suspicious that the TVA is lying to them. In the Time Cell, Loki attempts to reason with the Sif duplicate. He admits that he craves attention because he's a narcissist and is scared of being alone. In response, Sif helps him to stand… but it's only so she can deliver a savage verbal blow. The TVA sure does like their psychological abuse, don't they? Mobius arrives and releases Loki from the Time Cell, bringing him back to Time Theater 5. Loki accuses Mobius of being in a metaphorical loop of his own, with the pair using threats and abuse to try and coerce one another. Mobius attempts to better understand the nature of the relationship between Loki and Sylvie. Mobius threatens to put Loki back in the Time Cell, and Loki capitulates… claiming that he was pulling the strings all along. Mobius claims that Sylvie's been pruned by B-15, and Loki is plainly heartbroken, even though he tries to pretend otherwise. Soon enough, it becomes clear that they are attracted to each other (like, they "like-like" each other… I'm paraphrasing Mobius here, but pretty closely). Mobius admits that Sylvie hasn't actually been pruned while mocking Loki for being so narcissistic he fell for himself.  Loki insists that both he and Sylvie simply have a common goal of overthrowing the Time-Keepers, which he suggests may be necessary. Mobius is taken aback but Loki insists he's telling the truth… before finally shouting that they're all Variants, not created by the Time-Keepers but kidnapped by them. As the dawning realization overtakes Mobius, he attempts to deny that Loki is speaking the truth… but he doesn't look like he can keep believing the lie of the TVA, does he? Loki calls him out for lying to himself as he is shoved back in the Time Cell. It's Variants All the Way Down Outside Time Theater 27, Hunter B-15 is going through it herself. She anxiously stares at one of the TVA propaganda posters before drawing her weapon and entering. Sylvie attempts to start with some banter but B-15 simply opens a Timedoor to Haven Hills, Alabama in 2050, beckoning Sylvie to follow.  In Renslayer's office, Mobius is distracted by the knowledge Loki has imparted to him. Renslayer says the Loki/Sylvie case is closed and tosses the file aside as she raises a toast. She asks Mobius where and when he would go if he could anywhere, and he replies by inquiring why he wasn't allowed to interrogate Sylvie. Renslayer has plenty of perfectly valid reasons that Mobius shouldn't interrogate her, but Mobius is unconvinced. Renslayer says that the Time-Keepers want to oversee the Loki Variant's pruning personally, and that they want Mobius in attendance. This information does not quite placate Mobius, who asks another question about C-20's deterioration. Renslayer insists that it's "mission accomplished," and tells him to relax, but Mobius says something seems off. Renslayer tells him that she's trying to protect him from the Variant, especially after what happened to C-20… Mobius wonders if it's the truth and Renslayer tells him he's spent too much time with Lokis. She uses TVA mantras and fellowship to insist that the two of them are friends and allies… but it all rings so hollow, doesn't it? Mobius acts like he's buying it, but is he really? Renslayer adds Sylvie's sword to her trinket collection and Mobius leaves, in spite of the fact that Renslayer suspects that he suspects something. In the Roxxcart parking lot in 2050, B-15 and Sylvie stand in the parking lot as the Category Eight hurricane approaches. B-15 says that she saw something when Sylvie was in her head, and Sylvie says that she showed her the life she had before conscription into the TVA. Sylvie tells B-15 that the Time-Keepers didn't create B-15, they took her previous life away from her – everyone working for the TVA are Variants, the same as Sylvie or Loki are. B-15 asks to be shown, and Sylvie touches her head, giving her a vision. The music is melancholy as B-15's breath catches. We don't see what she sees, but she sobs, "I look happy… What now?"  In the library, Mobius sneaks between the stacks and pulls out Renslayer's fancy TemPad. He searches for information on C-20, and finds she is classified as "Deceased." He accesses the file with her mission debrief for the Roxxcart Disaster and finds a video of her insisting that the memory Sylvie showed her was real, and stating that she (and everyone else at the TVA) was a Variant and declaring that she's leaving… before Renslayer leans into the shot. In the Time Cell, Loki is resigning himself to being abused by the Sif duplicate when Mobius enters. Mobius asks Loki if he believes he deserves to be alone, but Loki says he doesn't know. Mobius tells him to figure it out, because he believes the Nexus Event causes by Loki and Sylvie falling for one another could be enough to bring the TVA down… and he uses "we," indicating that he's finally be won over to Loki's TVA-subverting side. Mobius says that Loki was right about the TVA and that if Loki trusts Mobius, they can rescue Sylvie. Mobius tells Loki that he can choose who he wants to be, and that self-determination lies with him: he doesn't have to be a lackey or a prop to raise the Avengers to their apotheosis. But they leave the Time Cell and are confronted by Renslayer and a cadre of Minutemen. Renslayer accuses Mobius of taking her TemPad and he surrenders it, although Mobius tries to pay dumb. Mobius tells Renslayer that if he could go anywhere, he'd go wherever it was he's really from (maybe there's a jet ski), revealing to her that he knows he is a Variant. But with great knowledge comes great disintegration, and Renslayer orders one of the Minutemen to prune him… and Mobius is unceremoniously eradicated. The Great and Powerful Time-KeepersLoki is lead away by Minutemen, but when Renslayer arrives at Time Theater 47, she finds Sylvie alone. Renslayer states that B-15 has been compromised by the Variant and puts out an alert for her.  Renslayer brings both Loki and Sylvie to the golden elevator and then dismisses the Minutemen. As the trio rides upstairs, Sylvie asks if Renslayer remembers her. After confirmation, Sylvie asks Renslayer why she was brought in – what was her Nexus Event? Renslayer says it doesn't matter, and Sylvie insists that it must have been important to take her life from her. Renslayer says she doesn't remember. It's a perfect demonstration of how institutions allows certain "privileged" individuals (like Renslayer) to exert systemic control on other individuals (like Sylvie), even though there is no actual reason this should be so (Renslayer doesn't even remember Sylvie's Nexus Event, the stated justification for her abuse)… especially since it seems most likely that like B-15 and Sylvie, Renslayer is actually another Variant – another equal. The elevator doors open and all three characters enter the mist-filled room from the cold open (hey, another narrative loop… who saw that coming). Renslayer addresses the Time-Keepers, and the three Time-Keepers begin to flaunt their authority over Loki and Sylvie. Loki says he doesn't fear death, and the rasping Time-Keepers continue to scoff at them before stating they should be deleted… But then the golden elevator doors open and B-15 enters the misty room. She deactivates the Time Twister collars around Loki and Sylvie's necks, and then tosses the TVA slogan at Renslayer and Sylvie's sword to its owner. B-15 is incapacitated by the Minutemen before Loki and Sylvie begin sparring with the guards. Sylvie and Loki manage to prevail over the guards and Renslayer. They turn on the Time-Keepers and decapitate the one at the apex of the trio… only to discover that they are "mindless androids." We've been Oz'd, people! As Loki and Sylvie contemplate the implications, Loki declares that "it never stops," but before he can elaborate further… Renslayer pops up and prunes him! Sylvie looks crushed (but not too surprised) before she seizes the weapon from Renslayer and turns it on the TVA boss. Renslayer tells her to go ahead, but Sylvie demands some answers… and the credits roll. Go Then, There are Other Worlds Than TheseBut then we get an after-credits sequence that suggests that those weapons used by the TVA may not be as fatal as they at first appear! Our Loki Variant awakes to find he's in a ruined version of New York City (including a burned-out Avengers Tower), and being menaced by four Loki Variants: an older, onsie-wearing Loki (Robert E. Grant), Kid Loki (Jack Veal), what may be a combination of Loki and Thor (Deobia Oparei), and… alligator Loki? Are we heading for a full-on Asimov cascade of Loki Variants, or is this more like Sean Ferrell's Man in the Empty Suit? Are we going to get Cat Thor Loki? Somebody open me a Timedoor to next Wednesday, already! New episodes of Loki are available on Disney+ on Wednesdays. The post Recap: LOKI S1E4 – "The Nexus Event" appeared first on The Beat.  |
| Posted: 30 Jun 2021 12:15 PM PDT Social media is already buzzing around the newest episode of Loki, “The Next Event,” so no spoilers for those who have yet to see it, but let’s just say it’s a doozy. It’s safe to say that Disney+ and Marvel Studios has another hit on their hands. So it doesn’t come as a complete surprise after the Loki Charms limited edition cereal, Disney+ has announced a new Marvel/Simpsons crossover short “The Good, the Bart, and the Loki” available to stream on the platform on July 7. Fans will recall that Disney+ released a Star Wars/Simpsons crossover short on May the Fourth with “The Force Awakens from Its Nap.” While that short was focused on Maggie Simpson and without dialogue, for this Marvel/Simpsons crossover short actor Tom Hiddleston will be providing the voice of the God of Mischief himself and will be joined by the various denizens of Springfield. Per its official description:
Check out the hilarious parody of the Avengers: Endgame poster for the short below. Also be sure to read The Beat‘s mid-season predictions for Loki by Therese Lacson and Avery Kaplan and keep an eye out for a recap of the aforementioned S1E4 episode “The Nexus Event” that is guaranteed to result in the most popular group cosplay at NYCC and Halloween this October.
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| A cosmic force has a new host in PHOENIX SONG: ECHO from Roanhorse & Maresca Posted: 30 Jun 2021 12:00 PM PDT Following the events of the “Enter the Phoenix” storyline in the Jason Aaron-helmed Avengers ongoing series, the Phoenix Force has chosen a new human host in the form of Maya Lopez, the deaf hero known as Echo. Today the publisher announced the next steps in Echo and The Phoenix’s journey will come in a new series launching in October. Phoenix Song: Echo is a five-issue miniseries from the creative team of writer Rebecca Roanhorse and artist Luca Maresca. No colorist or letterer were named in the announcement for the series, the first issue of which will feature a cover by Cory Smith and colorist Alejandro Sánchez (not named in the announcement, although his signature is visible on the cover), and a variant cover by Leinil Francis Yu.
Here’s how Marvel describes Phoenix Song: Echo:
Phoenix Song: Echo marks a return to the character of Maya Lopez for Rebecca Roanhorse, who previously wrote a story starring the character for the Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices anthology one-shot. That story saw Echo transported to an alien world by Loki in order to save a pacifist village from a swamp god. Loki’s motivations for his manipulation of Echo were unrevealed, so it’ll be interesting to see if this new miniseries picks up on that at all. In the statement announcing the new series, Roanhorse described her enthusiasm at continuing Echo’s story:
Check out Yu’s variant cover for the first issue below. Phoenix Song: Echo #1 (of 5) is set to arrive in stores on Wednesday, October 6th.
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| Small Press Spotlight: MR. BUTTERCHIPS relaunches thanks to SLG PUBLISHING Posted: 30 Jun 2021 11:00 AM PDT Small Press Spotlight is closing out June with a look at SLG Publishing's (Milk & Cheese, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac) release of Mr. Butterchips. The publisher is now relaunching the long-running monthly webcomic by Alex Schumacher as an ongoing weekly feature on its website.
Read a synopsis of Mr. Butterchips here:
The webcomic first appeared in the online literary magazine Drunk Monkeys in April 2016. In 2020, SLG Publishing released Mr. Butterchips: A Collection of Cantankerous Commentary, which included the initial run along with a 22-page standalone "acid trip of a story" called “Psychotropic San Francisco Sojourn.”
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| Six writers win the 2021 Finger Award posthumously Posted: 30 Jun 2021 10:15 AM PDT Six writers have been awards the Bill Finger Award posthumously. This year’s winners for the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing have just been announced, all posthumous. The award is given annually to writers who contributed to the history of comics — and named after Finger because many of them, like Finger, toiled in obscurity, due to the sweatshop nature of early comics publishers. Selections were made by a blue ribbon committee chaired by writer/historian Mark Evanier. The choice to only award recipients who had passed away is partly because the awards ceremony will be virtual again this year, said Evanier. “Since we are not yet in a position to honor a writer who is still with us in a proper ceremony, we're going to a long list of comic book writers from the past who we feel did not receive sufficient recognition or reward for their contributions to the field. As with last year, we have selected six posthumous awards and no 'alive' award. Each of these six writers left us with a body of work that the judges deem worthy of this honor." Among the winners are two of the most prolific comics writers ever, Paul S. Newman and Vic Lockman — but just who was the most prolific is not an argument that can be decided as, unfortunately, records don’t exist for most of them, and other criteria are arguable. "All of these writers deserve recognition," Evanier continued. "Everyone should remember that it's tough to determine precise totals when you're recognizing writers who did not receive credit for most of their work or, in some cases, didn't receive any credit at all." On a personal note, I’m pretty thrilled to see Bob Morales get the Finger. First off, he would have loved that sentence. Second, knowing his contributions to the medium have been recognized lessens the sting of his not being here to see it just a tiny bit. And all the winners:
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| The Marvel Rundown: X-FACTOR #10 finishes out the series in style Posted: 30 Jun 2021 09:00 AM PDT This week, as the month-long Hellfire Gala wraps up, so too does one of Marvel‘s X-titles, X-Factor! The final issue of the series arrives this week, and we look at how the issue wraps up the series’ many plotlines, as well as the series as a whole and its place in the prodigious pantheon of X-books. We’ve got a review of X-Factor #10, plus a Rapid Rundown of other new Marvel Comics titles for the week, all ahead in the latest installment of The Marvel Rundown!
X-Factor #10Story: Leah Williams & David Baldeón This is probably the hardest review I’ve ever had to write. X-Factor isn’t just another X-Book to me. While it is among the best the line has had to offer, it is also a step forward for the X-Men as a concept. After years of the mutant metaphor being used as a stand-in for queer struggles, and occasional bursts of progress like Iceman and Marjorie Liu‘s Astonishing X-Men, we finally got a proper, major X-Team with an equal amount of queer characters front and center alongside the straight mainstays, written by a bi women no less. Beyond that, Leah Williams and David Baldeón managed to tell some of the most moving, emotionally resonant, and powerful stories in the franchise’s history in just 10 issues. And now it’s over. So, how do you say goodbye to a book like X-Factor? You do it in style. The final piece of the Hellfire Gala, X-Factor #10 is a standalone tale that follows our band of beautiful, flawed misfits as they get ready to wine and dine with high society. The opening pages are right in line with what fans should come to expect, the team at the Boneyard, interacting in their found family unit and getting ready for the party. It’s as endearing and cute as you would hope, and thanks to Baldeón’s incredible designs for the team’s Gala outfits we get one last beautiful shot of everyone before they leave for the rest of their lives. The highlight of the issue, for me, is the narration here which feels like it could be directed right at heartbroken readers as much as it is relevant to the book itself.
The Gala itself is handled in line with other tie-ins like Marauders and Hellions, little bits of continuity like showing the full context for Shatterstar’s arrival and reunion with Rictor in Excalibur, and MU cameos like Steve Rogers sharing a moment with Kyle as two of the party’s humans as the X-Men election vote is taken. Speaking of the election, the winner is bittersweet, as a fan of X-Factor. Leah is explicit in her farewell that Lorna’s victory had nothing to do with the series ending and I am sure Gerry Duggan will handle her well in X-Men, but it’s hard to see her go when she had just found a healthy, accepting family here on Krakoa. Outside of the Gala, the bulk of the issue’s dramatic weight is devoted to solving the mystery of how Prodigy died. It is worth noting that Prodigy’s plotline does feature sexual and racial violence as a primary theme and while no act is actively show, it could still potentially be triggering for survivors of those assaults and a content warning should have been placed at the start of the issue. Simmering in the background since his first appearance with his powers restored, the pay-off is a little rushed but still satisfying. Having a deeply human, all-too-real, horror be the cause of his death and lead to some cathartic moments for half of the dang cast is a satisfying, if a bit rushed due to the cancellation, way to close out the book and tie up one of its most prominent loose ends. Of particular note is how well Baldeón and Israel Silva render Eye-Boy showing off a rather impressive new implementation of his powers. Naruto, eat your heart out. The scattered bits of character growth and pay-off, like Akihiro and Aurora’s dance and frank conversation about their relationship, are as touching and well-handled as the rest of Williams’ outstanding work through the series. Which makes the fact that the shocking end reveal is going to garner all the attention all the more disappointing.
I’m not going to spoil the identity of The Trial of Magneto‘s murder victim here, but if you haven’t heard about it by the time you’ve read this review I will be genuinely shocked. It’s a well-executed cliffhanger ending and sets the X-Factor-starring Trial series up for a very hot start, but it does sting that most of the conversation is going to turn around this single moment when the issue as a whole is a deeply satisfying, beautiful piece of craft. The Trial of Magneto will likely be a great series itself, given Williams’ writing it, but with the full scope of the series revealed with this ending, I suspect it won’t be as grounded in these wonderful, broken, perfect mutants as this series has been. X-Factor #10 sums up the series as a whole. It’s an emotionally weighty tale that manages to juggle the various Krakoan storylines in play without sacrificing its characters and their importance. In a way, its departure feels like a step away from what I love most about this era of X-Men. Other series like New Mutants are still carrying the character-heavy, personal stakes torch, but no series has so eagerly embraced the Krakoan Era as an emotionally grounded, bold step forward for both mutants within the Marvel Universe and the humans who read their adventures. I can only hope we get another series with the same level of heart and care that X-Factor managed to cram into just 10 issues of story sooner rather than later. Until then, take your bow Leah and David. You’ve more than earned it. Final Verdict: BUY. Rapid Rundown!
Next week, the new X-Men team debuts, and Ta-Nehisi Coates‘s Captain America run comes to an end! The post The Marvel Rundown: X-FACTOR #10 finishes out the series in style appeared first on The Beat.  |
| INTERVIEW: The McElroys & Carey Pietsch talk THE ADVENTURE ZONE: THE CRYSTAL KINGDOM Posted: 30 Jun 2021 07:30 AM PDT Death is in the air, and if ever there was ever any question about the wickedness of crystal healing, trust The McElroys (Griffin, Travis, Clint and Justin) to spin its virtues (or lack thereof) into one hell of a yarn. In The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom, the trusty trio of Reclaimers at the Bureau of Balance is tasked with retrieving a crystal relic from a magic-wielding scientist before apocalypse happens. And all while Taako finds a kindred spirit in the Grim Reaper, Merle has a reckoning with the Almighty, and Magnus does what he does best–beat and club his way with whatever menace dares stand before him. The McElroys join their TAZ comics collaborator, artist Carey Pietsch, to talk to The Beat about The Crystal Kingdom. While they’ve discussed the process of adapting a podcast to the written page with us in the past, never before have they revealed which character they’d most like to hang with. You can find that, along with an exclusive four-page preview of the forthcoming graphic novel, below. Without further ado, let the friendly sibling rivalry begin! Nancy Powell: From whose mind did this quest [from The Crystal Kingdom] originate? And what role did RPGs play in your lives, prior to The Adventure Zone podcast? Griffin McElroy: So, I DMed our first season of The Adventure Zone, so the setting was whipped up by me in an attempt to hurl Justin, Travis and Dad's characters into this sci-fi/fantasy crystallized ghost story … thing. All the arcs, more or less, were inspired by movies or media I was into at the time; CK is a take on Alien. I wanted to see what the stakes would be if I put them in an environment that, while nice to look at, was ready to kill them the second they dropped their guard. (Which they did, a lot, but I went easy on them anyways.) We hadn't really played tabletop or pen-and-paper RPGs before we recorded the first season; but I'd say RPG video games were super formative for all of us. There's a lot of like, video game-y structure to TAZ: Balance, which probably would have been way different had I had a bunch of prior DMing experience to go off of. Clint McElroy: When I should have been attending press conferences, writing news stories, and interviewing the Hoi Polloi of Huntington for the radio station I worked for, I was behind the locked door of my office, knee-deep in Grue guts, playing Zork. Travis McElroy: We also played this game called Hero Quest growing up. It was like a board game version of D&D that came with a bunch of pre-written scenarios. After a while, we just made up our own. Powell: How difficult was it to adapt The Crystal Kingdom to the graphic page? What kind of creative adjustments did you have to make? Griffin: The difficulties of adapting Crystal Kingdom all circle around the fact that it's where we really start pounding the pavement on introducing the big storyline for the whole campaign. I'm really happy with how that's presented in the book, but it took a while to get it to a point where it wasn't too dense, but also didn't leave out too much stuff, leaving us with less narrative chips to cash in later on in the series. We also wanted to flesh out the comparatively small number of new characters we introduce in this arc, namely the pseudo-mad scientist Lucas Miller and his mom, Maureen. It took a few drafts before we realized that's what the book needed, so there's a lot of story stuff not from the podcasts here that I'm really happy we were able to do. Justin McElroy: I will say this is the TAZ book I was most looking forward to just seeing. Carey has done such an astounding job of capturing the fractal, vaporwave nightmare I imagined while we were playing. It's a thing to behold. Carey Pietsch: Crystal Kingdom has always stood out to me as an arc with a very strong sense of place, thanks to the combination of Griffin’s soundtrack and the ways that everyone interacted with and reacted to the lab! A lot of early development time was spent on figuring out possible ways to translate that specific otherworldly crystal vibe into the book without providing so much visual information in the background that it would overwhelm the characters themselves. I'm really happy with how it worked out in the final pages! Powell: If you had to identify a character you would want to hang out with in TAZ universe, who would that be and why? Griffin: Honestly? Merle. He just seems like a good hang. Justin: Probably Kravitz: He's a good dude with impeccable style, a real sweetheart who also happens to be the Grim Reaper. When will your worst enemy die? Kravitz isn't telling! (But maybe after a few cocktails? Who knows?) Clint: I would like to hang with Ned Chicane. He is a gifted raconteur, an aficionado of cheesy horror flicks…we just have SO MUCH in common! (BTW: Merle is a good hang) Travis: Killian and Carey. Wait, does it count as a "hang out" if they do cool flips and fight bad folks while I clap and cheer? Carey: This isn’t “hanging out with” so much as it is “rooting for,” but: I would LOVE to get to go to a fantasy wrestling match where Jess the Beheader faces off against Queen Sabine. Powell: What are each of you currently reading? And which books are you hoping to catch up with this summer? Griffin: I was finally, finally reading the first Mistborn book when my son was born this past March, and haven't gotten back to it, because the idea of spending time I could be sleeping for anything else seems like hubris. Justin: Until a week or so ago, I only knew John Scalzi as a great DJ and photographer, but get this: He's an author too! I've been neck deep in Old Man's War, a great sci-fi action story that I'm kicking myself for not getting into earlier. Clint: I am on the sixth book of Marc Cushman's "These Are the Voyages" series, must-reading for any Star Trek fan. Also "Low Chicago", one of the mosaic novels from the 'Wild Card' series by George R.R. Martin (New kid. Shows promise) Travis: I am on panel 2 of 3 of this Marmaduke comic strip and I am on the edge of my seat. Can't wait to see how they wrap this one up. Also, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Carey: Prose-wise, I’m reading A Master of Djinn and The Chosen And The Beautiful! The comics at the top of my excited-to-read pile right now are Blue Flag, The Legend of Auntie Po, Jukebox, and Bug Boys: Outside & Beyond. Powell: Tell us a bit about the excerpt that The Beat is revealing alongside this interview. Griffin: There's so much to unpack here. You get to see a bit of Lucas being at odds with the party, you get to see a bit of the crystal golem that pursues them throughout their adventure, but the star of the show here is clearly UPSY. Turns out, when you include elevators in your fantasy Actual Play podcast, people give you a hard time. After fielding complaints from the whole world after using elevators in a few of the arcs, I included UPSY as an act of rebellion. He's an unknowable horror, and I love him very much. Clint: I love Taako's "Wizard of Oz" dad joke. Travis: I am truly concerned that seeing Upsy on the page will awaken something deep and primal in the population of Earth/the Universe. Carey: Upsy was a very fun design challenge, and I think what we landed on is a great balance of “I can kind of see how that was MEANT to work” against “but in practice, it really, really, doesn't." This excerpt is also a pretty representative slice of the crystal color palettes– it’s a VERY pink book and it was a real treat for me to get to color all the rock candy crystal environments. I can’t wait for everyone to get to read the whole thing!
Published by First Second Books, The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Palace arrives in bookstores on Tuesday, July 13th, and in comic shops on Wednesday, July 14th. The post INTERVIEW: The McElroys & Carey Pietsch talk THE ADVENTURE ZONE: THE CRYSTAL KINGDOM appeared first on The Beat.  |
| Report: Comics had their biggest year ever in 2020 despite the pandemic Posted: 30 Jun 2021 06:00 AM PDT
ICv2 and Comichron have released their joint statement analyzing 2020 comics sales for the year past, and although it may seem shocking, 2020 was the biggest year ever for comics and graphic novels. Despite shutdowns, lockdowns, store closures, remote working, a a global pandemic and the upheaval of everything in our lives, comics improved upon previous years of growth, fueled by an increase in kids’ comics sales, a manga boom as more anime aired on streaming services, the surge in collectibles and increased digital availability. 2020 comics sales were up 6% over 2019, coming in at $1.28 billion, according to a new joint estimate by ICv2‘s Milton Griepp and Comichron‘s John Jackson Miller. These numbers measure sales to consumers in the US and Canada. The increase came from online sales, big box retailers and digital sales, even in the face of a sharp decline in sales in brick-and-mortar comics shops and book stores. Digital download comics sales also soared in 2020, up to $120 million from $90 million in 2019, a 33% increase. This came after years of flat digital sales, but obviously, a pandemic got people turning to different ways to read comics. Graphic novel sales were up 9.1%, while periodical sales declined 19.7%. The charts don’t break out kids comics and manga sales; hopefully Griepp will deliver his “White Paper” at some point in 2021 so we can get a better look at the growth in those channels. The growth came despite an unprecedented year of setbacks:
More charts and graphs:
Because of the upheaval in comics distribution — DC leaving Diamond, and Diamond ceasing to put out overall sales charts — Miller and Griepp had to use new methods to compile the chart, using point-of-sale information from ComicHub which they used to build a sales model; because NPD BookScan also uses ComicHub data, they also changed how they use BookScan data. A couple of other trends from looking at previous reports: • Back-issue sales were way up as housebound fans sent collectible sales soaring. This helped offset some of the lack of new product to some degree. • Comic funding on Kickstarter was up 60% in 2020, helping fuel growth in the “Other” category, which also includes what remains of newsstand sales; this category was up 40%. Miller expanded on the report a bit on Twitter, here, here and here:
Also:
The replies to these tweets are full of what I assume must be Cmicsgters who keep asking if they can get the numbers MINUS kids comics and manga, so as to prove that comics aside from the comics that are doing really great, are not doing great, I guess? But actually they are. TL;DR — comics are not dying. They are thriving. If you would like to make your own charts and graphs, you can use the data from the eight previous reports: The first six reports were for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 sales. ICV2 and Comichron also previously collaborated on revised estimates for 2011 and 2012. More archived sales chart information here. The post Report: Comics had their biggest year ever in 2020 despite the pandemic appeared first on The Beat.  |
This might be bad enough, but then it happens again… and soon it becomes clear that it's going to keep happening. On the one hand, this is another weird form of temporal punishment, and it looks a lot like one of the ChronoGuard techniques from Jasper Fforde's The Woman Who Died A Lot: A Thursday Next Novel (in which it is revealed that the chain-store TJ-Maxx actually stands for "Temporal-J, Maximum Xecurity," in which time criminals are punished with "Closed-Loop Temporal-Field Containment").
Schumacher's work includes The Unemployment Adventures of Aqualung, Defiling the Literati, and work for Arcana Studios, Viper Comics, and DreamWorks TV. The creator also has an essay on being a cartoonist in the upcoming issue of Monkeys Fighting Robots as well as an anthology entry in Fabrice Sapolsky’s Mutiny Magazine.
"When offered the opportunity by SLG Publishing, I decided to retrofit Mr. Butterchips for a new era and a broader audience," said Schumacher. "While the comic will now be set in the hallucinogenic fictional town of Los Puritanos, readers who enjoyed the salty simian’s tenure at Drunk Monkeys Magazine will be pleased to know his low threshold for stupidity and intolerance remains wholly intact."
With new installments every Wednesday, readers can enjoy the series for free online. Click 
Audrey “Toni” Blum (1918–1973)
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