Advance Review: Dark Ages #1 (of 6)

The next Marvel event begins now with yet another planet shattering, all changing status quo book that promises so much, though this time, with it being a kind of near future type of affair the lack of any true ramifications have already been built in.

The awakening of an ancient power threatens the Earth. Whilst some characters will appreciate this, the heroes of the Marvel Universe will make their stand once more. Though this time around all their combined power may fail in the face of the ultimate. Yet, for the world to live, there will have to be sacrifices made, and made they shall be. But when darkness falls, is life still worth living?

Tom Taylor is a dab hand at this “end of world as we know it” from way back on Injustice: Gods Amongst Us and DCeased. In fact, I would wonder if he was capable of anything else right up until he started dropping an outstanding run on Nightwing. Here, he uses the same sort of “voice of the people” in everyman Peter Parker to discuss the end of the world. In the process, Taylor adds humour to events; May on the ceiling, the Thing included incase something needs clobberin’ all bring a level of humour to proceedings. Taylor avoids the use of some of the biggest Marvel hitters, instead focussing on some of the Fantastic Four, a mutant, the Champions and of course Spidey. Personally, I am a tad tired of ancient threats that no-one knew about coming out of the woodwork, well almost no-one in this case, but here the trope is used well. At least it isn’t another multiverse thing. The tone of the writing, the juxtaposition of Spidey’s normal; glib style in the face of overwhelming darkness makes this an interesting read.

Following on from King in Black, Iban Coello provides the art with a suitably dark styling. Whilst it is true that some of the faces share a nod to Todd Nuack, as do some postures, the rest is gorgeous and works on a variety of levels. The comedy element works, Sue Richards looks gorgeous and not to be a fashionista, I love the jacket on X-23 Wolverine! The third act of the book is where the chaos really comes into fore, yet Coello handles it extremely well, never confusing the reader at any point, The colors are a two-fold affairs, with the normal universe being bright and fun and the darkness, well dark! Brian Reber, whose work you will have seen on Black Cat (the best book Marvel publish by the way), does a great job of lightening the mood before dropping the proverbial hammer. Letters are provided by VC’s Joe Sabino, perhaps using a slightly smaller font to allow the art to shine through. There are a raft of covers; it’s buyers prerogative, though the main one work well for me.

This event has me intrigued to say the least. Without the pressures of what comes next, readers can enjoy the the journey not focus so much on the destination.

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 5 Stars

Written by; Tom Taylor
Art by; Iban Coello
Colors by; Brian Reber
Letters by; VC’s Joe Sabino
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network