The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 317: The Fearless Defenders #4AU, July 2013

What's kind of nice about this particular crossover issue is that I have pretty much no idea of what the Fearless Defenders are like in regular continuity, so this just seemed like a cool story with some semi-familiar characters, like another chapter of Age of Ultron (which it is), as opposed to a reimagining of something with which I was already engaged.

So, the first question that pops to mind, of course, is when the hell did Hippolyta become a character in the Marvel U, and how come she's so frickin' badass?

This issue gives us the most comprehensive look at the Latveria-Asgard Wars, though saying that it's comprehensive is a bit of a misnomer. We see a few aftermath shots, and that's about it. I have to say, were they ever to return to the AoU, I'd love to see this war played out as a proper, boots on the ground (a la Siege:Embedded) title. Style it after the old 70s DC war comics, keep the level of superheroic silliness (said in the most affectionate manner possible, btw) to a minimum, and give us a good, solid war tale. Doom versus Odin, with Thor and Sif, and the Warriors Three, and Baldur and Loki, and (somehow) Ares all mixed in. I'm getting Illiadic shivers down the spine.

Not much else to say about this issue. Hippolyta's costume is fantastic, but I would have expected nothing less from Phil Jiminez. I used to equate him with the second volume of The Invisibles, but really he's more one of the men who now sits at the feet of the Wonder Women. Maybe they'll give Hippolyta her own series, and he can write and draw it, and not have to deal with silly New 52 Wonder Woman.

(Y'know, every now and again I'll write something like that about the New 52 and feel bad, since I've read so little of it. And then I'll pick up an issue and read it and it's just fucking crap. *sigh*)

Coming up to crunch time with two issues left. Who will live, who will die, will anything even remotely change at the end of the crossover? Stay tuned!

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 90: Moon Knight #15, July 2015

I know I said that every 30 days I'd do a special comic, but two things occur to me: first, I'm super-busy right now and completely lost track of what day I was on. Second, I don't have that many special comics to write about, so perhaps I'll save the next one for a big anniversary, like my 100th comic (in just 10 short days' time!). So instead today I present Moon Knight #15.

I was going to stop reading Moon Knight after Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey left the title (I'm getting a strange feeling of deja vu as I write this), but then I gave their successors a try. And it was soooo worth it. Brian Wood and Greg Smallwood continued the Ellis/Shalvey aesthetic perfectly, added some flourishes of their own, and left after 6 issues. Along comes Cullen Bunn (with both Ron Ackins and German Peralta), and the transition was once again smooth, and there's new and interesting developments in the series. For a while there I thought it was going to be a "monster of the week" sort of set up, with MK fighting something and then moving on to the next thing, but Bunn has added an interesting undercurrent that, if I'm honest, has been building since this beginning of this relaunch. Moon Knight might be the fist of Khonshu, but he doesn't always have to agree with Khonshu. And vice versa, for that matter.

My enjoyment of the title aside, I'm not quite sure how it's fitting into the "Secret Wars" event, unless this is Moon Knight in the amalgamated Manhattan that exists on Battleworld. Or it could be that the series will just ignore the crossover and get on with telling some great stories about a completely underused, and misunderstood, I think, character.

Long story short, the Moon Knight relaunch, along with The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, is one of two real surprises I've had from Marvel over the last year. Not big splashes like the introduction of the female Thor, just solid and thoroughly entertaining comics.

See you tomorrow.