Welcome back True Believers to another edition of The Marvel Rundown! This week journey into the past — before Nick Fury was the Man Behind the Wall, before he was Director of SHIELD, even before he was the leader of the Howling Commandos! This is the untold story of his first meeting with Marvel’s alien dragon fascist, Fin Fang Foom! It’s Nick Fury vs. Fin Fang Foom #1, the latest entry in J. Michael Straczysnki’s series of offbeat mashups.
Stick around after the main event for the Rapid Rundown, with continuing coverage of the X-Manhunt event in X-Men #13 and X-Factor #9 as well as Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #2.
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Nick Fury vs. Fin Fang Foom #1
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Penciler: Elena Casagrande
Color Artist: Mattia Iacono
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Cover: Gary Frank and Alex Sinclair
There was quite a commotion when the Beat’s Marvel team realized that J. Michael Straczynski was writing a series of offbeat teamup books and we lamented our missed opportunity to spotlight Doctor Doom and Rocket Raccoon after its release. As a fan of Straczynski’s overlooked teamup series Brave and the Bold run at DC, I was curious to see what this week’s Nick Fury vs. Fin Fang Foom had in store. Could this strange matchup have the same magic as the unexpected teamup between Etrigan the Demon and Aquaman?
What makes Nick Fury a fun character is that he is so self-serious and hard-edged to the point of self parody. And yet he finds himself constantly dragged into situations where he is out of his depth. Fury trying to figure out his way of a problem he is ill-suited for, while never losing his cool or even seeming all that surprised by any of the strange events surrounding him, is usually a recipe for an enjoyable story. Here, he is up against Marvel’s resident ancient dragon/shape-shifting alien, Fin Fang Foom in a story set shortly before Fury’s World War II heyday.
Despite Straczysnki’s trademark wordiness, this one-shot is a showcase for artist Elena Casagrande, whose work is beautiful and cinematic in a way that perfectly suits the old-school Hollywood vibe the script calls for. Even the heavy exposition scenes have drama, with dynamic compositions and expressive faces. The soaring, widescreen panels of the biplanes chugging along through the skies give way to the massive double page spread of dark visions. The large panels allow us to take in the scope of the frigid mountainsides and Fin Fang Foom’s dominating physical presence in juxtaposition. Casagrande’s depiction of the beast captures a wonderfully villainous self-satisfaction that reminds me of the way Milt Kahl animated Shere Kahn in Disney’s The Jungle Book. His eyes are rarely more than half open, his chin tilted up in disdain for everyone who dares waste his time by existing. Every choice Casagrande makes expresses something about these characters or aids in the telling of the story. This is clearly one of Marvel’s best talents at work. The linework is elevated by colorist Mattia Iacono who has a slick, poppy look that evokes Marvel’s Silver Age monster stories more than its war stories. That mix of the bold pop colors, that sometimes change just for expressionist purposes to make a panel stand out, is classic comic books.
Gary Frank’s cover art of the grizzled Sgt. Fury and the monstrous Fin Fang Foom is cool, but Casagrande has a sense of life and motion that makes this issue delightful in a way the grimy realism could not. Fin Fang Foom doesn’t feel threatening or intimidating because he is supremely monstrous but because he feels so alive and intelligent. You can see him thinking–and that’s more unsettling than a raging monster.
The story itself is pretty shallow and spends a lot of real estate setting up and explaining the problem Fury is there to solve. There’s nothing here that will make you reexamine Nick Fury or the Marvel Universe, but there are certainly interesting ideas about what motivates the character and seeing him in action for the first time against something beyond his mortal imagination is entertaining. There are hints of something deeper that Straczysnki is trying to get to but the pacing is off, with too much time on the setup and not enough on the climax and resolution. Still, the artwork is terrific and keeps the book from ever feeling dull. Kudos to letterer Travis Lanham who keeps all the heavy dialogue easy to read and never makes things confusing. The team here is clearly having fun touring the Marvel Universe and that sense bounces off the page.
Verdict: This is a fun one-shot to read on a sunny spring afternoon. Buy.
The Rapid Rundown
- Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #2
- If you wonder why they make comics for properties like Star Wars, Legacy of Vader is the answer. With its current storyline, “Reign Of Kylo Ren” the time between The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker is the bridge for us to learn how Kylo Ren fully embraced his turn to the Dark Side. Veteran Star Wars writer Charles Soule leads Kylo on his journey of discovery, uncovering his family’s past and their connection to the Dark Side. As always, Soule takes what was on the screen and fleshed out new connections and expands on the concepts that enhance the depth of a character that was carried by the strength of the actor. Almost leisurely in its pace, this issue of Legacy of Vader takes us back to where it all started in the Star Wars universe, the desert planet Tatooine. Decades after Luke Skywalker’s first adventures, Tatooine is in a more desolate state than previously seen in the Original Trilogy or Book of Bobba Fett, as he walks through the city with his overeager guide Vanee, a disembodied head with the knowledge of the Emperor. Artist Luke Ross and color artist Nolan Woodard’s strong visual artwork dances between the present and past as Kylo learns about his grandfather’s time as a slave, podracer and the event that truly marked Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side. Kylo’s rage and hubris lead him on a revenge trip to ensure that this part of his grandfather’s legacy is wiped out and only the lore is remembered. – GC3
- X-Factor #8
- Continuing from X-Men #13, X-Factor #8 picks up the confrontation between X-Factor and Cyclops’ X-Men team. Of the chapters so far, writer Mark Russell recognizes that readers may have no idea what’s happening in X-Factor. He works around whatever plots are happening in the book and makes some sense tying that into whatever story is happening in X-Manhunt. And thankfully this is the funniest issue of the entire crossover. Beast recognizing how overpowered his team is compared to their opponents is a bit of much needed levity in this story. Doubly so for Archangel turning into a murderball and chasing after Beast. Artist Bob Quinn has come a long way from the stiff poses of the early issues and really leans into the comedy of the action. Maybe the most disappointing part of this issue is the Cyclops and Havok confrontation. Like so much in this crossover unfortunately, response to this conflict hinges on whether or not you have intimate knowledge of X-books over the last few years. Look we’re almost two chapters and a side story away from finishing this crossover and the stakes still remain so vague. We still barely know what’s actually going on other than people are real interested in Charles Xavier. Whatever’s happening with his daughter seems almost completely forgotten at this point though this issue hints at what may be Xavier’s plan. Though before anything gets revealed, the story gets cut off. Again. X-book crossovers of the 90s, which this story wants to emulate, might have been near incomprehensible to non X-Book readers. Those stories at least had clear stakes, took time to breathe, and at least made sense issue to issue. X-Manhunt has been such a rush and so incomprehensible, it’s hard to think of how this is meant to generate interest in this line. At least this issue of X-Factor is funny.- DM
- X-Men #13
- For the past seven nights, I have lied awake in bed in anticipation for the next chapters of X-Manhunt to drop. The first three chapters left a lot to be desired in their confusing geography and muddled storylines. “Is this about Xavier’s daughter? Is Xavier just having a meltdown due to the mutant tumor? Why was Mojo there?” are all the questions I asked myself in my restless state. Does X-Men #13 address my quandaries? Not really. What it does do is give a big fight scene between the overpower Storm (I haven’t been reading Storm, so I am at a loss here) and the Alaskan branch of the X-Men. Writer Jed MacKay does deliver a story that is action packed to the gills and full of solid character beats for Quientin Quire and Juggernaut. Honestly, the astral plane fight between Quentin and the Professor may be one of the best moments of the crossover so far. It is a shame that another psychic brawl took place just a few months back in Raid on Graymalkin crossover. Artist Netho Diaz does a phenomenal job illustrating this slobber-knocker of an issue. The kinetic energy in the brawl between Juggernaut and Storm is equally matched by the almost horror-vibes of the duel between Quentin and Xavier. The visual and literary callbacks to the Morrison run left me feeling happy. Yet, this issue feels vapid. There is no substance to these moments. This doesn’t even begin to touch upon the “And…then” style of storytelling where nearly every issue of this event has ended with another X-team or cast of another X-book showing up to steal Professor Xavier like he is some sort of McGuffin. This brings me to my main issue with this crossover: the lack of continuity within the event and the line itself. Why does this all have to take place literally 2 months after the last crossover? It just feels unnecessary in its haste to get to this point. There has been no real breathing room to make Xavier’s internment in the Graymalkin prison have any real heft. I personally liked this issue a lot and had a lot of fun, but the X-manhunt event still leaves a lot to be desired. -JJ
