Guggenheim, Marc
AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:
3.8 out of 5
(4 books)
TOP PICK:
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Coulson Protocols
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Coulson Protocols
(Art by German Peralta)
Agent Phil Coulson and his SHIELD team (Quake, Mockingbird, Deathlok, Melinda May, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons) have to track down a Department of Defence quantum drive which has fallen into criminal hands. They soon learn, however, that not only does the drive contain detailed files on how to kill superheroes, but it's also the product of Coulson's own imagination.
I love the AoS TV series. Sure it's not all great and disappeared up its own lore a couple of times before it ended, but it was fun and introduced a genuinely engaging cast of characters, all held together by Clark Gregg's perfect Phil Coulson. I was therefore a little nervous of this book going in. If you don't know, Phil Coulson was invented for the MCU and was later retconned into the comics continuity due to his popularity, but having the entire team from the TV series ported over to Earth-616 felt like a risky proposition. The main danger is that if you change too much you could lose the very thing that made the characters popular in the first place but if you don't change anything then you don't have room to tell new stories.
For me this book walked the line between familiar and new with the AoS character just about perfectly. I was genuinely prepared to hate this book but all of the characters felt as charismatic and engaging as they were on the TV show whilst also very clearly being different versions of those characters. (Although, like me, fans of the TV series might find it pretty disturbing to see Fitz flirting with May). Much like the smallscreen version of this team, this book is just a nice bit of espionage adventure, with just the lightest touch of melodrama.
I will acknowledge that the whole 'Coulson Protocols' thing is a rehash of Batman's files in 'JLA: Tower of Babel' (reviewed here), which were themselves pre-empted by Xavier's dossiers on the X-Men from the Onslaught crossover. Basically, very much not a new idea.
4 out of 5
Civil War: Wolverine
(Art by Humberto Ramos and Carlos Cuevas)
A tie-in to Mark Millar's epic 'Civil War'. As the focus of the Civil War becomes the factions for and against the Superhuman Registration Act, only Wolverine is determined to hunt down Nitro, the supervillain responsible for the conflict. Against the wishes of the X-Men and the Avengers Wolverine embarks on a full-blown vendetta which will lead him into conflict with the likes of Prince Namor, Sentry and S.H.I.E.L.D.
This is a great book about Logan just, if you'll pardon the pun, cutting loose. Let's face it, the reason we all love Wolverine is because he's a bloodthirsty rogue and this book plays to those elements.
There's also an interesting epilogue in which Logan describes what he experiences every time he is taken to the brink of death (for example; when Nitro's explosive power leaves him as little more than a shiny skeleton). This ending perfectly illustrates Wolverine's other great character aspect, which is his tragic loneliness.
4 out of 5
Star Wars: Dark Droids - D-Squad
(Art by Salva Espin and David Messina)
A tie-in to the Dark Droids crossover event, set between 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi'. The malevolent droid intelligence known as the Scourge is taking control of droids across the galaxy and when it takes control of C-3PO and turns him murderous, R2-D2 sets out to put thing right. Resurrecting an idea from the Clone Wars, Artoo gathers a team of droids, a new D-Squad, to take the fight to the Scourge.
I like the idea of a group of sentient droids who we already know teaming up, albeit as an oddball team, to take on the Scourge. What makes it even more entertaining is the specific group of droids Artoo gathers together. Sure, there's QT-KT from the original heartwarming and cutesy D-Squad, but the rest of the new team are the most violent and deadly droids to be found in Star Wars; IG-88, 4-LOM, 0-0-0 and BT-1.
It's genuinely interesting that I found the relationships between this group of mismatched droids far more compelling than almost all of the human relationships in these concurrent comics series. There's perfect mix of rivalry, tension, companionship and even a little droid romance.
The downside to this book is that it ends on a cliffhanger which requires you to immediately read the main 'Dark Droids' story (by Charles Soule) if you want any sense of closure.
Given the title of the book it was also nice to briefly catch up with WAC-47, another alumni of the Clone Wars team. However, I enjoyed seeing Chopper even more, particularly him refusing to help Artoo because he doesn't care. That's very Chopper.
4 out of 5
Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca - The Crystal Run: Part Two
(Art by David Messina and Paul Fry)
With Chewie in prison and Han left for dead on a remote planet, the two smugglers have an uphill struggle if they're to turn the tables on those who betrayed them, reclaim the Millennium Falcon and deliver the hard-won treasure to Jabba the Hutt.
Guggenheim keeps up the brisk pace that worked so well in the first book, whilst maintaining the spot-on characterisations of the title characters. As before, it's nice to see a version of Han who is genuinely sharp and cunning, instead of the bumbling buffoon that all too many Star Wars stories turn him in to.
Nevertheless, this book is definitely a step-down in terms of overall quality from 'Part One'. The plotting doesn't feel as tight and there's not too much of a core story arc to really get to grips with. That's a particular shame when you consider that this book features a heist in Grand Moff Tarkin's office on Coruscant, which should've been awesome but which is underwhelming and over all too quickly.
The other thing that held back my enjoyment of this book was the the introduction of the lore surrounding the droid revolutionary Ajax Sigma. Aside from ripping-off stories already covered in the old EU canon (nice shout-out to Kligson's Moon, however), it's all too obvious that Ajax Sigma is only mentioned here because they're planning to do something with the character later on. The lack of subtlety in introducing this thing that will only be important somewhere down the line was very disappointing.
3 out of 5
Collaborations & Anthologies:
Arrow: Volume 1 (here)
Civil War: Marvel Universe (here)
Daredevil: The Autobiography Of Matt Murdock (here)
Star Wars: Age Of Rebellion (here)
Star Wars: Age Of Republic (here)
Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca - The Crystal Run: Part One (here)
Star Wars: Scoundrels, Rebels And The Empire (here)
Star Wars: Yoda (here)
X-Tinction Agenda: Warzones! (here)