Mark Brooks (1)

Only Paul Cornell could get me to purchase the Dark Reign tie-in to Young Avengers, a crossover I know nothing about's intersection with a series I've never had a desire to read. Despite that, it's a decent book. As always, Cornell comes up with great concepts for superheroes: a girl who might be an Asgardian enchantress or might be affecting her thees and thous, a girl who views being a superhero as a form of performance art, and a refugee from a universe of microscopic fascists, who's show more reprogrammed a robot to be her racist boyfriend. Of course, there's also the violent guy with a skull helmet who calls himself "Executioner," but I suppose you can't win them all.

The central conflict of the book is that a group of teenagers dubs themselves the Young Avengers, being confronted by a preexisting group with the same name. The characters-- two groups of six, all with real names and code names-- were too much to keep track of, and the plot's examination of how violent can a group be and still be "heroes" is too tired to fit with the young, fresh voice Cornell seems to be going for. The team's angsty, overwrought leader, Melter, is what drags the book down the most. But there were enough moments that worked-- most of them involving Coat of Arms (the artist), Big Zero (the fascist), or the Enchantress (the enchantress).

I was a bit baffled by characters' reactions to Big Zero's tattoos-- she has Iron Crosses on her shoulders. Everyone acts like these are terribly shocking, but I was not aware of any kind of stigma attached to the Iron Cross. Google tells me that some people think it is racist, but the immediate vehemence of the reactions makes me wonder if Cornell scripted the tattoos as swastikas, but it was changed by the time of illustration. show less

I believe this volume takes place shortly after Episode IV: A New Hope.

After deciding to take a break from the Rebellion and go back to being a smuggler, Han Solo is abruptly pulled back into the Rebellion by Leia with a proposal he finds hard to turn down: a chance to race the Dragon Void run, a prestigious racing competition. Of course, Leia has ulterior motives for needing Han, but all he sees is a chance at the prestige of winning this race. The race itself made me feel a little like show more this was a galactic version of the Hunger Games, as the race's organizers set up specific obstacles for the racers to avoid (not that this is a race to the death, but I just got the impression of that idea). There was also a little more science fiction than I'm used to with Star Wars, with the inclusion of wormholes and other dimensions, but it worked really well here. Marjorie Liu really had a grasp of the characters and handled them quite well; I had no problem hearing Han's and Leia's voices in my head. Mark Brooks' art is fantastic here and I'm hoping that Marvel utilizes him more frequently on the Star Wars titles. Overall, this is a solid addition to the Marvel portion of the Star Wars universe. show less

The bit with Machinesmith was a bit alright, but what's up with Darren Cross? Isn't this just another rehash of the same exact plot that got Scott into the Ant-Man suit in the first place?

At least Machinesmith was pretty funny. And the whole recruiting from Super Villains Anonymous, too. I like the light touch.

I keep being surprised by the quality of the new Marvel comics, especially when the stories seem so stereotypical. Sure, Han & Chewie enter a race and so on, but so much happens in terms of redefining postEp4 Han to himself that it's surprising that Liu successfully squeezed it all into 5 issues.