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| Front cover of A-Force Presents volume 4 by Marvel Comics |
Black Widow (2014) #4Captain Marvel (2014) #4Ms. Marvel (2014) #4She-Hulk (2014) #4Thor (2014) #4The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2014) #4
Score (out of 5 Capes)
With solid entries from Ms. Marvel, Thor and Black Widow, a decent Captain Marvel flashback wrap-up, and uninspiring She-Hulk and Squirrel Girl entries, I give this collection three and a half capes.
My Review
This is the final volume of the cross-promotional A-Force Presents trade paperbacks that I will review. If its particular blend of story excerpts, shifts in tone, style and quality interests you and you must have more, good news! Marvel continued to publish a few more volumes.
Following the same pattern as the previous three, volume 4 collects issue #4 from each of six ongoing series launched by Marvel Comics in 2014 that starred a female hero. So locked into the pattern are they that the six chapters follow the same sequence in each volume.
Black Widow #4 is the first Widow story that is not self-contained. Molot, the hulking monk who imagines himself as the Hammer of God, eludes capture. His story is not done, and he will definitely return next issue to complete his quest of targeted assassinations.
Artist Phil Noto's visuals continue to be the most compelling element of these Widow stories. They are gorgeous! He lends them a soft feel overall but is able to drive home a hard edge to heighten the tension at key moments. Similar to the Batwoman series from DC Comics, the flash of brilliant red hair against her black, form-fitting battle gear is a jolt of visual electricity running throughout the pages.
Writer Nathan Edmondson dials the tension up and back down throughout the narrative and knows how to draw out the important revelations as he teases that there is more humanity behind the divine instructions Molot is carrying out.
Turning the last page on the painterly Black Widow story and landing in the bright, blocky, cartoony greens of She-Hulk is as much a jarring experience in volume 4 as in all of the others. Most of Javier Pulido's faces and postures are presented either head-on or in full profile, lending an amateurish feel to the pages. He does still convey the strength and passion of his characters, but a wider variety of perspective and angle would make this a more enjoyable read.
She-Hulk #4 sees her wrestling with what she should do for her client from #3 - the son and heir of Doctor Doom. Charles Soule gives us some charming soul-searching, with critical input from another Marvel hero and lawyer, Daredevil. She then sets out to take her case directly to Doctor Doom himself, ending in a delightfully destructive confrontation at Doom Castle in Latveria.
The transition to Captain Marvel #4 brings another visual shock to the system, as the heavy, blocky, green-saturated panels of She-Hulk give way to the muted sepias of Captain Marvel. The creative team of Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer) and David Lopez (artist) leans heavily on the subtle color work of Lee Loughridge. It makes for some beautiful pages, although it is not always clear what the shifts in color tone are intended to convey.
By the end of #4, Captain Marvel has brought us all the way back to the first pages of issue #1. Remember how those pages dropped us into the middle of a tale on a far-flung planet, before backing up the clock by 6 weeks to tell us how we got there? By the last page of this chapter, we have returned to the series start point. Getting there has shown that Captain Marvel overvalues her diplomatic skills. There is definitely more to this hero than sheer power, but her flop before the ruling council of the threatened population shows a need for more training and experience before her next diplomatic role with the lives of millions hanging in the balance.
The Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel character and series is the big revelation of the six series collected in these volumes. Writer G. Willow Wilson bakes together so many fascinating ingredients - a young teen girl and her usual social and academic angst; her geeky hobbies placing her decidedly not with the popular crowd; family tensions and risk of being grounded; a prominent place for both the immigrant experience in general and the Muslim experience in the United States in particular.
All of these alone would make for an interesting tale in the hands of a writer of Wilson's skill. But she adds even more to the mix, with sudden and very strange powers, flirting with potential body-horror themes before gradually gaining more mastery. All these ingredients turn into a truly delightful dish, leading (in hindsight) to her entering the pantheon of Marvel heroes.
In this issue, she learns more about the possibilities and limitations of her powers; finally settles on a costume; sets out to rescue a friend trapped behind some creative tech. Adrian Alphona's visuals are delightful and quirky, showing the depth of emotion over anything and nothing in the teens, while giving us compelling body distortions and surprising perspectives.
Next, we turn to Thor #4, with the title "Thor vs Thor." It is an overworn cliche that Marvel superheroes have to fight each other. This time, however, the battle is not a misunderstanding but an effort to settle who rightly wields the hammer of Thor. Even with one arm, and surrounded by rampaging Frost Giants and an evil elf, the Odinson must first seek to reclaim the hammer from the hands of the mysterious woman.
The battle is short-lived. Not due to any defeat, but to his recognition that she has made the hammer do things that, in all his years, he has never seen it do. When he begins to refer to her as "Thor" and calls her "Goddess of Thunder", you know their reconciliation is complete.
With this fourth chapter, writer Jason Aaron salvaged what had started out as an overly melodramatic and ponderous series. Still loads of self-righteous machismo, but the conclusion to the opening story arc landed, and set up the rest of the series from a decent foundation. Russel Dauterman's action sequences continued to be a cluttered blur, but there is some raw creativity in these images that plays well with all the posturing of these characters.
The volume ends with #4 of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. The images and writing continue to be as juvenile as the preceding three chapters. Squirrel Girl and her sidekick rodent Tippy Toes, out in space, complete with fishbowl bubble helmets, talking Galactus out of eating the Earth by sourcing his calories from elsewhere, ideally a planet covered deep with nuts.
Ryan North writes not just the silliness of these adventures but throws in some cheeky running commentary in the fine print at the bottom of most pages. Could it be more clever or have more depth? Could the art dial back the feel of kids' Saturday cartoons? Sure, but you know what you are getting with Squirrel Girl, right?
What I loved
The Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel has so many rich elements in play and the creative team does a fantastic job of blending together the elements. By issue #4, we have come through the most awkward moments of this teenager's coming to terms with the changes in her body. Now that she has more understanding and control over the changes, the art becomes even more whimsical, and it is such a delight to see her in action.
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| Ms. Marvel crushes enemy robots with a giant fist - on purpose! |
What I didn't love
Squirrel Girl vs Galactus. Given the light, laughs-first tone of her series, it is no surprise that Galactus is portrayed in a similar vein. Alas, it comes across as more frat boy than powerful, interstellar force.
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| The mighty Galactus laughs mockingly |
Related Reviews
Quick Reference Details
Writers: Nathan Edmondson, Charles Soule, Kelly Sue DeConnick, G. Willow Wilson, Jason Aaron, Ryan North
Artists: Phil Noto, Javier Pulido, David Lopez, Adrian Alphona, Russell Dauterman, Erica Henderson
Published By: Marvel Comics
Published When: Jan 1, 2016
Parental Rating: Teen+
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| Back cover of A-Force Presents volume 4 by Marvel Comics |
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