Al Ewing

I enjoyed the murder mystery of the Original Sin event, but it was the consequences of the secret revelations that I was most eager for. This Companion is huge – nearly 1000 pages and has stories across a dozen+ different series. As is usually the case with such a large collection, some stories were excellent, some mediocre and some…ugh.

One issue I had with the entire volume was that though the secrets caused fights/discord, it was usually resolved when the “whole story” came out. show more When Orb detonates the Watcher’s eye, secrets are revealed to everyone but most only get the beginning of the memory. I felt this was a bit of a copout, but not so much that I didn’t enjoy the stories.

I think the best stories were the ones that didn’t involve the main Avengers team: like Deadpool, Nova and Blade/Luke Cage/Blue Marvel. These tales had consequences that were not immediately resolved and big emotional stakes. Daredevil was especially good for once again showing him using strategy over his "powers." Even heroes I wasn’t familiar with, like Radiance, had good stories that kept me engaged. Of the core group - Thor’s tale was the best. It introduced a new Realm and had revelations concerning Angela. And any tale with Loki is always entertaining! The rest of the best known heroes were meh. The reading of Xavier’s will was hugely anticlimactic – Xavier is dead, but still had a “sin” to reveal. The X-Men bicker about it. Cap’s secret tied directly into the Avengers’ Incursion arc, which I thought horrifically boring and his time travel road trip didn't change that. Hickman takes technobabble to a whole new level. Bruce and Tony’s sin amounted to a weak retcon. Not bad stories, just not equal to the heroes involved.

Overall, this is a solid collection with some real gems and just a few clunkers. It’s an excellent value for the price considering the sheer amount of material (most of it very good) and the gorgeous production - sewn binding, full color wrap-around covers and dust jacket. Highly recommended. show less

This was unexpectedly strange and great read.

It is far future and humankind has reached the maximum of the expansion and resources are running few. Until they come across huge entities they name Gods, enormous bodies spread across universe, huge and ready to be cannibalized. For some reason these entities are only encountered when dead, nobody knows who they are and where do they come from. What is known is that they are all epicly beautiful and their garments and flesh are source of show more exquisite resources to harvest.

While this concept is honestly very weird, I look at it from following point - it is time where few people can afford their living, and these space carcasses are source of wealth. Strict regime and conditions related to harvesting point to the rather tyrannical government in the background taking all the profit and leaving many to squabble over bread crumbs remaining. Also there are indices that these carcasses were treated differently before, but then they just became equivalents of whales in 19th century.

And so enters captain Malik and his crew on board one of the so called coroner ships - harvesters taking resources from the enormous beings. But Malik has a goal set before him - he will try to find the alive God and figure out where do they come from and thus gain wealth for himself and his crew. But on his way he will find reluctant crew (because straying in coroner ships can result in immediate termination) and remainder of his past, security officer running escort to harvester [to prevent any feuding between ships] that holds a grudge against Malik, grudge that might push her towards ending the Malik's (and his crew's) career in the fireball.

Very interesting story, ends on a high note, cliffhanger that makes you find the volume 2 ASAP.

Art is excellent, very cinematic in its composition and you are never left guessing what is going on. Space is presented as a dangerous place it is, pulsing with life and other-worldliness, strangest of which are these entities called Gods by humanity.

Highly recommended read for fans of space opera. show less

You think it would be almost impossible to come up with an effective new take on such well worn character as The Hulk, but Al Ewing does it with a innovative take on the green giant that pays homage to his roots in both comics and the classic TV show while spinning some imaginative yarns along the way. The first half of this collection is more episodic and reminiscent of the TV show’s lonely traveling man trope, and is highly engaging. Once the story opens up to include the wider Marvel show more Universe and the various Hulks of recent years (an idea I never really liked - to me The Hulk should be unique) it seemed to take itself a little too seriously in addressing the question of what is The Hulk’s role in creation. Yet overall it was an entertaining read. show less

This book wraps up the SERVEYOUinc storyline that's been running through these Eleventh Doctor comics, though first there's a cute story about an alien overlord who tries to take over the Earth by writing free comic books. The remainder of the book is pretty dramatic, grim stuff, though, with the Doctor working hard to make good for his guilt over what he did during volume two when he took over SERVEYOUinc. Stories include the TARDIS crew being split into three different dimensions, Cybermen show more intervening during a civil war in ancient Rome, and the Doctor facing down his mother. They're weird, off-kilter stories, and all the better for it. There's no point where this ever feels like it's trying to be the telly version! The Doctor's guilt is a strong thread here, and one I enjoyed: I don't think Matt Smith every played it quite this way in tv, but I think he could have, and quite well. This is a baggage-ridden Doctor, full of self-loathing, a characterization that occasionally lurked in the background; Ewing & Williams yank it into the foreground to good effect. Jones and ARC are written out in the this volume (I like how Jones went), and the ending promises that Alice will stick around for the next volume, which is good because I like her.

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