So basicly, this blog features my opinions on different things I just want to write about. Today's topic: Marvel comic books.
How I started to read Marvel comic books
I got into reading Marvel comics back in early 2015. I had always been interested in comics but I just didn't have access to them. I started buying and reading them and it was cool, but then the Secret Wars crossover event happened. It took weeks of research and reading older stories to kind of step in to the comic book multiverse and once I had finally found my favored characters, everything changed.
Most importantly, I didn't like this whole new universe which resulted out of the Secret Wars storyline. It just wasn't my cup of tea. So I stopped buying the single issues every month and invested in some really cool trade paperbacks every once in a while.
Recently I've been itching to get back into reading some new storylines, seeing as I am completely out of the loop. So I started with a few characters, but it was proving hard to catch up. These characters have so much history. I'll probably do seperate reviews.
And then ofcourse I picked up INCOMING! for Christmas, a massively hyped up 90 page one shot murder mystery to set up the future of the Marvel Universe comic books. Selling at 9.99 USD.
The reviews are coming in though and most people are really critical of the book. Which is why after finally having some time to read it, I want to share my opinion on the book.
Honestly, it's not that bad. It just so happend to help me with getting a bit of a feel to where all the characters are I know and those I don't know; who's who and where. It helps me in choosing some new characters's comic books to start reading in 2020. And that is exactly the point of this book.
There is a storyline that runs through most of the book. There is a murder of a, as far as I can tell, unimportant character and the murder investigation moves through different worlds and characters either pitching in on solving it or being clear as to why they are too busy to help, giving a sneak peak to their current storylines in their own comic books.
Most of these are cool. They peak your interest. But there are a couple of pages in the middle of the book that make no sense what so ever. The pages don't even mention the murder.
Allot of the readers were very critical because of the almost magazine like short promo feel of all the short mini story pages from the different characters. Saying they should all have been released as free previews.
So that's the first bad thing, and I don't disagree completely. 10 Bucks for a single issue comicbook is on the expensive side. The second is...
!!!Spoiler alert! Skip this paragraph if you don't want to read any spoilers.!!!
[... the murder doesn't really get solved?? Like what!? Instead the book ends on this weird open note, which leads into the big spring/summer crossover event coming up, Empyre. Which will release in spring. I mean, come on Marvel. You could have given us better then that. And this one does bother me, because the murder isn't a difficult one to resolve. And they could have at least given us the reason and murderer for 10 bucks. ]
Conclusion
So no, this book isn't worth 10 bucks. And other reviewers have mentioned it should have just been free. Since it's kind of a book packed with 3 to 4 page sneak peak adds to other storylines and arcs. But I do think it is worth something.
It does help me to choose what writers and artist I am interested in, and most importantly what characters arcs to keep an eye out for. It definitly turnes me off on the big Empyre event, because the prelude murder story doesn't read very well. And that is it's biggest flaw.
People like me are probably going to opt out on the big spring/summer crossover event because of this.
But I would still recommend it to a Marvel book reader who like me has been out of the loop the past few years and needs some help getting back into the comic universe. Or an experienced reader who needs help choosing their new comic book purchases for the next few months of Winter and Spring 2020.
