1) Avengers Academy #7 by Christos Gage and Mike McKone -- I am devouring this book every month, I love it. I badly want more Pietro and Finesse (out of the students, so far I'm most impressed with Finesse and Reptil), but Hank's becoming a favorite right now so I'm happy to see an issue might focus on him. I will be a little sad, though, if Hank gives up the Wasp identity to take back the Giant-man one. I liked that he was stepping into Jan's shoes, very few legacy heroes are a male character taking on a female character's identity while there are tons of female derivatives and female successors to male characters. I'd much prefer to have Jan back as Giant-woman and Hank remain in the Wasp identity.
Plus, it's the only good costume he's ever had.
2) Superman #706 by G Willow Wilson and (I believe) Eddy Barrows -- I think the walking storyline (like the WW storyline) had a good idea, but I hate the way JMS wrote Clark. I took this chance to order it and see if another writer can do a better job. Also, I've been hearing so many good things about Air but didn't find out until it was all gone. (Waiting on a trade now.) This'll be a chance to check out this writer.
3) Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars by Beau Smith and Enrique Villigran -- I've been waiting on a new Wynona Earp story since 2006, and finally one's arrived! I discovered this character through the Complete Wynonna Earp a few years ago and I absolutely adored it. I'm going to take the liberty of quoting my old review because I've already said what I'm looking forward to the most with this:
As a result, I actually got to read a book with a female main character who was never beated up in a sexualized manner (although yes, she was beaten up and captured a couple of times, it wasn't drawn out or handled in a worse manner than a similar situation in Warrior with Guy Gardner would be), or victimized, or made to seem the least bit weaker because she was female. I got to put aside feminist analysis of the story in favor of enjoying the action, the cheesy jokes, and yes, even the ridiculously over-the-top Nineties Art (my pet peeve about the posture was in full force for most of this trade, only the very first and very last stories -- by Luis Diaz and Manuel Vidal respectively -- had her posed like a proper fighter). It was like being a kid again.I can't wait.
Augh, now I'm torn.
ReplyDeleteI mean, we all know the real reason is that Hank's running around as Ant-Man/Giant-Man in the (excellent) new Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon. They even gave him a costume that's pretty close to his cartoon incarnation.
Despite that, I really, really liked the rationale Hank gave for returning to Giant-Man -- it really was the only time he'd balanced the super-hero and scientist aspects of his life.
But -- yes, a male character taking on a female legacy is a idea that's all too infrequent. I think the only time we've come CLOSE to that was when a technically-genderless android took on the legacy of a cross-dresser who kept her true gender a secret.
And ... Giant-Woman and the Wasp? What a terrific idea! It taps into the Marvel Adventures Jan-As-Giant-Woman, it makes perfect sense given Jan's current predicament (maybe she comes back and finds herself unable to shrink below a certain level, like Hank in his Goliath days), and, yes, Hank gets to keep the classiest costume he's ever worn.