We’re No. 1! is a weekly feature looking at first issues in new comic series, as well as one-offs and special releases. In his reviews, Jeff highlights stories with diverse characters and plot lines Geekquality readers can care about, as well as points out comics that miss the mark.
This week’s best book falls right in the wheelhouse of last week’s top highlights, with Marvel heroes like Carol Danvers and Karima Shapandar. Marvel stalwart Jennifer Walters gets a series of her own in She-Hulk #1, written by Charles Soule with art by the Javier Pulido, continuing something Marvel has been doing so well lately: making its women into real people. Jennifer has always been complex, a lawyer who also happens to be green and strong. She’s a thinker as well as a brawler, and this book shows that side of her better than ever. Jennifer has been with a new firm for a year now, but her annual review isn’t what she expected. Her bosses hoped she’d bring more “superhero connections” to the firm, and they’re upset that they haven’t snagged Jennifer’s billionaire acquaintances like Tony Stark or Danny Rand as accounts. After quitting indignantly, Jennifer takes on the case of a simple housewife whose ex-husband, it turns out, is a evil genius claiming Tony Stark stole a patent of his. As Jennifer tells her new client, “90 percent of being a lawyer is conversation” and this book follows that model. Sure, there’s some fun She-hulk smashing as she takes on an unhappy robot or two. Ultimately the entire story is merely a set up for the series, establishing Jennifer out on her own with a brand new private practice. Where her life will take her is clearly the focus of the series, and that’s exactly what makes it intriguing. It’s not She-Hulk’s adventures; it’s Jennifer Walters life, and that makes it a book worth coming back to.
Red Sonja has rather a different life than the She-Hulk, but that doesn’t stop her from being an iconic fan favorite. The Red She Devil has a new one-shot this week with Red Sonja: Berserker. While living in the wilderness for the winter, Sonja befriends a polar bear cub after thrashing the hunters who were going to kill it for sport. She helps the little guy get big, and they part ways, only to be reunited years later … in a gladiator arena. Bear refuses to kill his old friend and, well, we see where this is going. The script by Nancy A. Collins (who usually pens a Sonja of a different color) is a touch on the obvious side, but it’s no less thrilling. Sonja getting in tavern brawls? Sure. Sonja and her bear buddy thrashing the corrupt local cops? Of course! Sonja violently refusing to be treated with anything less than respect just because she’s wearing a silver bikini? Damn right! The overt statement that one’s clothes don’t justify unjust treatment is my favorite part of the book, and in line with the best of what Red Sonja is all about. She is never apologetic about her lust for life, beer, men or blood, and Collins and artist Fritz Casas handle her beautifully here.
There is lots of originality in Image Comics’ The Fuse #1, from its setting to its characters, and much that feels the same as well. Written by Antony Johnston with art by Justin Greenwood, The Fuse is both gritty sci-fi and a classic noir detective piece, a tale of two newly paired cops on a killer’s trail. One is an old hand, the other new on the job, and the city is dirty and dangerous. You might think you’ve seen this all before but the city is The Fuse, a space station the size of New York orbiting the Earth, and our detectives are more than just cookie cutter clichés. Ralph Dietrich is a young Black rookie cop from Germany, by the book and a volunteer in a place few want to be. His partner is Klemintina Ristovych, Klem, an older detective who’s orbited the planet more times than she cares to recount. On the one hand, it’s interesting to see a female character in the role of the experienced mentor. On the other hand, it’s a little disappointing for the young Black man to be relegated to the rookie role, learning the ropes. Still, he’s an eager and well-rounded character, and the dynamic between the two, like any good cop story, is the key to this book, despite the unusual setting. If you liked Law & Order and Star Wars with equal fervor, this is the new comic for you.
If history-bending genre work is more your thing, then look no further than The Royals: Masters of War #1, from Rob Williams and Simon Coleby at Vertigo Comics. It’s an imagining of the early days of World War II with one significant change: the world’s royal families really were blessed by a higher power. It’s a Super Power, in fact, as all members of royal bloodlines have superhuman abilities and have signed a secret pact to stay out of the wars of ordinary men. So while Hitler’s Luftwaffe bomb Britain, its eldest, Prince Alfred, dances the night away, uninterested in helping the subjects that feed his coffers and die for his throne. His younger brother Henry, however, is not so easily convinced to sit idly by after his beloved London is nearly destroyed, and he joins the fray. Yet Henry is unknowingly breaking an ancient truce, and the abilities of the rest of the world’s royals become lightning that shouldn’t have been let out of the bottle. Over all, the book is a fun idea, much more cavalier than the similar concept in Kieron Gillen’s Uber, largely because it’s less historically accurate. Royals has less of a feel of methodical historical research, but the art makes up for any oversight there. The period is masterfully captured by Coleby, and I have to say that Royals was the best looking book of the week, for certain.
