Written by Kurt Busiek
Art by Yildiray Cinar
Published by Marvel Comics
Now I’m on the trolley!
In what can only be described as rollicking adventure, The Marvels #4 assumes the more familiar structure of superhero nonsense. The threat has emerged – a black dome covering all of the Southeast nation of Siancong and some neighboring territory. The source of that threat, a woman named Lotus, has claimed responsibility.
And now our favorite Marvel heroes are coming together to form a plan and handle it.
Kurt Busiek throws another fun piece into this mix, however. Giant monsters, somehow tied to Siancong and a bunch of the prior lore we got in previous issues, emerged in Lower Manhattan.
They’re chasing Black Cat and Kevin Schumer, nephew of The Tinkerer and Manhattan superhero tour guide. Remember how the two of them were rummaging around in that Little Siancong warehouse that blew up? Well, they stirred up something.
And now that something has attracted the attention of Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, and Doctor Strange. Soon enough Kevin Schumer goes from his buddies thirsting over the Human Torch, to standing in the same room with him. And then Reed Richards, who was in Siancong those years ago, is weighing in with more information.
Kevin’s a fun POV character to bring us back to ground level and understand how not-normal everything around him is. That his life of picking at the margins of superheroes and supervillains may come from a desire to get closer to their world, but the reality of that world is another thing entirely.
It’s a fun issue! Lots of action, lots of movement between different parts of the world, from following up with Siancong and Aero’s efforts there, to Krakoa and the X-Men getting involved in the crisis. Is Lotus a mutant, or an Eternal?
And there are still the mysterious players sitting outside the timeline, watching things unfold. Now it looks like they’re stepping in!
As said in prior reviews, Yildiray Cinar draws everything with such confidence, with panel work that picks the right details for each moment.
