All my life I’ve been a Marvel guy even before I read comics at the tender age of 14, I loved the Marvel Spiderman and X-Men that were doing the rounds on Saturday morning television in the nineties and then when I first stepped into a comic book shop (which I had no idea existed) was mainly because I had heard of this Ben Reilly character who had replaced Peter Parker and Marvel were fighting DC in, yep you guessed Marvel Vs. DC. I’ve pretty much ridden the Marvel train since. Then two(ish) years ago I did the family and for a while I had to duck out of comics but when you do that it’s pretty difficult to come back in unless you want to spend hundreds of pounds on back issues and because I have a completionist character disorder (basically I have to own the whole series and all spin offs and they have to be first printings), I wrote off going backwards and then last year DC must have known I wanted back in and relaunched their whole line – thanks DC!
I picked up most of the new first issues but now mainly read the Batman titles, it’s not to say I don’t read Marvel titles – I’m really enjoying Captain Marvel and Avengers Vs. X-Men as well as a few others but I am waiting this whole Marvel NOW thing people keep talking about.
So during this whole becoming a Dad and a husband thing I’ve realised my tastes have matured along the rest of my life and I’m enjoying a lot of comics away from the big two. I’m loving all of the Valiant titles and enjoying their “Summer of Valiant” and reading a lot of Images titles right now and most of stack this week had Image titles in it including Harvest which I was certain would get “Comics of the Week” again but Creator Owned Heroes stole the crown this week.
What I like about this title is how different it is from anything I’ve ever read in my 13 years of reading comics. We’re now 4 issues into the title and with this issue you really get a good grip on what Jimmy Palmiotti and Steve Niles are doing. Each issue gives you two short comic book stories which take up about half of the book and the rest of are filled with lots of great articles and interviews.
The stories that have been a part of the book since issue one ended this month and have cleared the path of next months fresh and brand new stories. Trigger Girl 6 written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray wraps up the story of the assassin that wants to kill the president and looks like his month which talking animals, the ending I’m honest was a little lackluster although it’s been left open to revisit. The art work from Phil Noto was absolutely beautiful, I really loved the colouring. American Muscle was the next story in this book by Steve Niles and Kevin Mellon, the story is about a group of Americans that live in a possible future and drive around America which is now a wasteland looking for somewhere to call home. This story ends with them facing off against a bus full of mutates, the art work is dark and gritty with lots of yellows and browns which help to set the tone, the ending is also left open for Chloe, Gill and the rest of American Muscle. Overall I really enjoyed both stories and I liked being able to pick up one comic and get two stories. At the end of each story we are advised that next issue will be the start of two new stories by new creative teams which I imagine will be for a further four issues.
There are many articles in the comic such as Justin Gray’s “Scattered Thoughts” which I enjoyed as it focused on writer’s block, something myself have struggled with when writing and I totally agree with what he has written – it’s a good read. There is another great article on Comic Conventions by Steve Bunche as well as many other regular features that they have every month.
This book really show cases creator owned talent which the comic book industry is thriving on right now and for this Marvel Guy I have to say that creator own talent is shining high and if you’re interested a book with revolving characters and stories focusing on the industry then give this book a try. For me this book is an inspiration to creators who want to own their own characters and but with a collaborative twist.
Mark Brassington 