Marvel’s King in Black crossover unites Avengers and X-Men with Venom


Frightened Citizens of the Marvel Comics Universe: Knull arrived, after a few years, with everything from named drops to innuendos and taunts, omens so heavy that even Star Wars: Episode I he wonders if things should go back a bit. This week’s first issue of King in black is the culmination of everything creators Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman have built working together on the two Poison Yes Absolute carnage years, but does the latest major events book live up to the years of the hype?

Who does King in Black?

King in black is the latest collaboration between Cates and Stegman, who first worked alongside the release of the current Poison

series in 2018. His work on this book has prepared everything needed for the past year Absolute carnage, his earlier book of events together, which ended with what was, technically, the inciting incident of this series: the awakening of Knull, the dark god who created the alien race of symbionts to which Venom belongs. Ink JP Meyer, colorist Frank Martin and ubiquitous Clayton Cowles in letters also return from these two projects.

What is King in Black about?

The basic idea behind King in black It’s very simple – the guy who created all the symbiotes like Venom came to Earth and brought an army of symbiote dragons with him to cause trouble. (Once you get into the details, things get tricky, but we’ll get to that in a second.)

It’s a familiar formula, used by Marvel for a year. War of the Realms event, indeed, if you replace “dark elf Malekith” with “the dark symbiote god Knull”, but that normally works quite well. Who doesn’t want to see all of their favorite characters united against a seemingly unstoppable foe, in the end?

Why is King in Black happening now?

The Avengers Quinjets and the Fantasticar cross the Hudson River to Manhattan as an army of symbiote dragons crumbles from the sky into their streets, in King in Black # 1, Marvel Comics (2020).

Imagen: Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman / Marvel Comics

The cynical answer to that question is, “Because Marvel needs a crossover event every quarter, and the last one ended two months ago,” but we’re more than cynics here. for Poison

fans, this event took years to prepare and probably feels overdue, and as far as the larger Marvel Universe is concerned, it comes at a time when the heroes are sufficiently distracted by their own plots that an invasion rightly turns out to be catastrophic.

Are there any required readings?

This is the first issue of a high-profile crossover event emerging in a three-year history of an ongoing series featuring a character who has been around for three decades. There is a lot Required reading, especially to move forward with a series of links listed in the editorial at the end of the issue.

Despite Cates and Stegman’s attempts to recap through Eddie Brock’s concise account, the issues can only be fully understood by examining the Poison series, with its previous related crossover book, Absolute carnage. Cates also introduced an important story for the villain in his Silver Surfer: Negro mini from a few years ago, raising this to the required reading level as well. It’s a sign of the complex interrelatedness of the story you’ve been building for the past three years, or proof that you’re a writer who wants to keep your old catalog in circulation for as long as possible – it’s up to you!

Perhaps the most unexpected continuity of the theme is the appearance of the Sentinel, a character that few people have probably thought about recently, in a scene directly related to that of 2004. New avengers # 2 and that sounds a lot like the inner fanboy Cates finally made his peace after 16 years.

The Sentinel shatters Carnage in two while floating in orbit around the earth, in New Avengers # 2, Marvel Comics (2004).

Carnage and the sentry in New avengers # 2. Yes.
Imagen: Brian Michael Bendis, David Finch / Marvel Comics

There are also inexplicable references to Marvel’s last major event, Empyre, but you can ignore them and make the story work. Let’s just assume that the Avengers still have the missing space weapons orbiting the planet.

¿King in Black es bueno?

In many ways, King in black # 1 isn’t a good comic, or at least it’s poorly written. It’s all about telling rather than showing, and Cates delivers extremely bad exposure, especially when it comes to Eddie Brock’s storytelling, which carries most of the theme. There are also countless examples of characters. narration the reader that things are wrong, rather than showing why this is the case, although even attempts to do so go wrong, and the problem is apparently based on the childish logic of “Who’s Really Hard?” Well, me

the boy can beat they up! Yes!”

In fact, Knull’s weakness as a threat undermines the whole book; Based on the evidence for this issue, he’s completely generic, with ill-defined abilities (he … can fly, he’s strong, and can control sticky dragons I guess …) and doesn’t have a real personality. , which not only makes it a boring story. But it’s also a problem when the whole premise is based on the idea that he is such a strong and inescapable force that any attempt to resist him is in vain.

And even… King in black does exactly what you want the first issue of an event book to do: it introduces the threat, initially describes the fate of the protagonists as unnecessary, and features character cameos that can then be turned into their own titles, each available separately. Sure, he does it awkwardly, but no more awkward than Absolute carnage last year or even the average Marvel Cinematic Universe Project, both of which have legions of fans, so maybe there’s something to be said for the straightforward, straightforward approach.

One thing that cannot be denied is that the book looks good: Stegman’s work mixes American and Japanese influences to create a hyperkinetic mix of over-rendered, muscular cartoon characters with too many teeth and a lack of anything that can be seen. looks like a recognizable human. emotion, as if My hero university took over the Marvel universe, all colored with surprisingly effective subtlety by Martin. It’s a gorgeous and beautifully melodramatic look that elevates the material considerably.

A sign that appeared

A trio of massive Celestials merged with Symbiote descend to New York City amid a swarm of symbiote dragons as the Avengers and X-Men watch in dismay, in King in Black # 1, Marvel Comics (2020).

Imagen: Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman / Marvel Comics

Does anyone else remember when the Celestials were in big trouble, and not just dead or possessed envelopes to live on or use as cannon fodder to show how important their latest villain is?

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