FAN

Ghost Station Zero #1 continues the premise of writer Antony Johnston and artist Shari Chankhamma’s previous Codename Baboushka comics — what if the story was about the femme fatale super spy, and not the James Bond-type she sleeps with? — and dives deeper into Baboushka’s Russian connections and history. What Cold War secrets are lying in wait for this icy blonde badass? While Ghost Station Zero continues Baboushka’s story, it’s a standalone miniseries and a great jumping on point for new readers. Starting in media res during a mission in China, in which Baboushka saves women from the sex slave trade and punishes their captors, it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly who Baboushka is and what she does for a living. Working with her handler Gyorgy, she makes a daring escape that I won’t spoil and continues on to her next mission as if it were no big deal. Aren’t all escapes from murderous gangsters daring, you ask? Maybe, but this is a truly beautiful escape; Chankhamma’s illustration

Eric Heisserer, the writer of last year’s Oscar-nominated Arrival and the man chosen to help shepherd Valiant Entertainment’s characters to the big screen over the next few years, returns to comics this week with a comic that feels clean, clear and assured. Secret Weapons takes the wreckage of past Valiant storylines and gives them a fresh life which, paired with the unclipped talent of artist Raul Allen, helps this debut issue soar off into the skies of Oklahoma City. The series looks at more of the forgotten “psiot” children left to fend for themselves after Toyo Harada’s program crashed and burned at the end of the first Harbringer series. With four young survivors being hunted and chased (with only their street-smarts and largely useless powers to hand), it falls to relative superhero Livewire to step up and try to protect them. It may be a simple premise, but the creative team are able to siphon out the rest of the Valiant Universe and really hone in on their cast of new charact

I’ll admit that the solicit for “All-New, All-Different Avengers Annual” #1 had me a little nervous. When mainstream properties take on fan fiction, it’s often a way for “legitimate” fiction to belittle “illegitimate” fiction as sillier or inherently inferior. Luckily, “All-New, All-Different Avengers Annual” #1 takes a heartening approach to the subject. The creators manage to poke fun at fan fiction’s more lurid, wish-fulfillment elements without letting the reader forget that Marvel and DC superhero stories — with their power fantasies, time-warping plot twists and use of licensed characters — are very much on the same spectrum as fan fiction, as every creator at the Big Two gets to put their own twist on characters and worlds that someone else invented. What, then, is the problem with fan fiction? “All-New, All-Different Avengers Annual” #1 has a lot of fun suggesting that this isn’t always a question of quality, as many critics would have you believe. Instead, it’s a question of

“Fantastic Four” #645 is a quick recap and power-check away from being a totally perfect issue of this series. With the pieces present in this issue, including a thirty-five-page lead story by James Robinson and Leonard Kirk, this near-perfect comic book provides a wonderfully organic, most satisfying conclusion for the adventures of Marvel’s First Family. Whether the conclusion of this series is the result of an alleged feud for film rights or a just a part of the mega-epic “Secret Wars” saga, Robinson finishes the story in the most organic manner possible, giving each of the Fantastic Four and almost every single ally of theirs a chance to shine, a line to say or a panel to swing through. Naturally, Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and Thing get the majority of the spotlight, but it’s the moments where Robinson gives Sleepwalker a chance to save Franklin’s bacon or Namor the opportunity to rush to Sue Richards’ aid that help stress the importance of the Marvel Univer

James Robinson and Leonard Kirk continue to weave one of the most well-planned and masterfully executed Fantastic Four stories in recent memory with “Fantastic Four” #643. The issue, Robinson’s seventeenth chapter in his saga scripting the World’s Greatest Comic Magazine, continues to play out the effects of Quiet Man’s devious plans. With the ability to tap into the “Heroes Reborn” dimension that Franklin Richards created, the Quiet Man attacks the Marvel Universe on many fronts and gives the Fantastic Four more than they can handle alone. In doing so, Robinson continues to describe to readers just how inseparable Marvel’s first family is from the Marvel Universe itself. Serving as the hub around which the rest of the universe revolves, the Fantastic Four are able to rely on allies like Captain American, Doc (Hulk) Green, Spider-Man, Captain Britain’s Excalibur, Alpha Flight and the Winter Guard (formerly known as the Soviet Super Soldiers). The last three groups get one-panel appe

“Fantastic Four” #13 opens with a fragmented mosaic of imagery drawn by Leonard Kirk, inked by Karl Kesel and colored by Jesus Aburtov. Images that threaten to burst out of the panels fill the space with slivers of characters as Clayton Cowles’ letters dictate the immense fury of a mysterious, devastating attack. Writer James Robinson’s fifth installment of the “East of Eden” storyline opens with chaos and turmoil as the writer begins to bring pieces back together for Marvel Comics’ First Family. Throughout his run, Robinson has investigated the connections the Fantastic Four have with the rest of the Marvel Universe and he continues to do so here, drawing in the Invaders, the Frightful Four, the Inhumans and the Fantastic Four from Matt Fraction’s run on “FF.” With so many characters packed into the panels of “Fantastic Four” #13, Robinson somehow keeps the story from becoming a mess, choosing instead to allocate panel time (and in some cases pertinent dialog) throughout the issue

Leonard Kirk returns to the artist’s chair for “Fantastic Four” #11, as James Robinson guides readers through the tumult surrounding the Fantastic Four. Robinson and Kirk jam so much into the twenty pages of this comic that readers barely have time to notice anyone’s absence in favor of the appearances of characters. Robinson has made it quite clear that the Fantastic Four are firmly embedded in — if not the actual hub of — the Marvel Universe. The writer has teased out evidence throughout his work on the series, but in “Fantastic Four” #11, it’s more evident than ever with appearances from a handful of foes not normally associated with the Fantastic Four, a visit from Scarlet Witch, a conversation between She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot and a surprise visit from yet another character Robinson has written in his current stint at Marvel. Additionally, Robinson pays dividends on seeds planted early on and even mines the history of Marvel’s first family and their supporting cast. Sue Rich

“Fantastic Four Annual” #1 is both a refreshing break from and a legitimate tie-in to writer James Robinson’s ongoing storyline in the main title, featuring an emotionally desperate Sue Storm venturing off solo in the hopes of taking back her daughter Valeria from Doctor Doom. Drawn by veterans Tom Grummett and Tom Palmer, the story is beautifully set amidst a backdrop of the always seemingly-peaceful and content Latveria with a decidedly unhappy Invisible Woman breaking its serenity. Robinson’s often-touching story is one that delicately captures Sue’s sensitive state of mind, unapologetically portraying her as the mama grizzly who simply wants to be reunited with her own child. In having to come after her daughter, she clearly wishes she were more of a supermom than a superhero, and Robinson carefully focuses more on the maternal side of the character than the super side. Sue is just like any other parent in pain here, and her superpowers are a merely a tool she has at her disposal

James Robinson has been turning the screws on Marvel’s First Family since the onset of his “Fantastic Four” run and continues apace with this tangentially-related “Original Sin” tie-in. It’s a well-designed story, told well by an industry veteran, with stellar artwork by the criminally underrated Leonard Kirk, but the overall product is bleak in a way that left me feeling more depressed than anticipating an upward trajectory in the third act of this overarching plot. Ben Grimm has been arrested for the murder of the Puppet Master and he doesn’t put up a fight as he’s taken away in manacles. Still reeling from the revelation that Johnny Storm screwed up a potential cure for the Yancy Street Brawler, Grimm is morose and maudlin as he is transported to a maximum security wing of Ryker’s Island. Meanwhile, readers discover what happens when the Avengers try to keep Susan Richards from her children, and Reed Richards accepts a position at a company on an island floating above Lake Michiga

Few of Marvel’s big characters have been left untouched by Marvel Comics’ “Original Sin” event, and three members of Marvel’s first family are no exception. “Fantastic Four” #7 by James Robinson and Leonard Kirk continue the revelation from last issue, where Ben Grimm discovered that, years ago, Johnny Storm had inadvertently and permanently prevented Ben from ever again being transformed from The Thing back into human form. Robinson makes good use of this disclosure, and is able to put a somewhat fresh spin on Ben’s reaction to forever being stuck as The Thing, a story idea that has been revisited countless times over the decades. The added emotions of anger, shock and betrayal felt by Ben are what give this story a different dynamic this time, the least of which is Ben wanting to clobber Johnny this time rather than Reed. It’s not just a pity party for Ben; Robinson makes it clear that Ben isn’t upset over never looking human again, but instead over the idea that a lie was covered