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Fans got the chance to read the brand new A-Force #1 last week but Marvel has already announced a brand new creative team for the series. Writer Kelly Thompson (Gem and the Holograms) is joining artist Ben Caldwell (Prez) to take over the series from writers G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel), Marguerite Bennett (Angela: Queen […]

How long does the Marvel Universe stay All-New and All-Different? How long does the Marvel Rundown (in it’s current incarnation) stay viable? The answer lies in the first column of the Marvel Rundown: The publisher’s landmark Secret Wars event has been delayed repeatedly, but Marvel is moving ahead as scheduled with their full line relaunch, […]

Is it truly all new and different? G. Willow Wilson and Jorge Molina are back on the book from before that whole Secret Wars thing, as are Singularity, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Dazzler, Medusa and Nico Minoru. Somewhat new? According to the blurb, coming back from the Secret Wars Singularity has to get the team together but they don't remember who she is. Awkward. At any rate, the lady Avengers get to recreate the all-timer Straight Outta Compton album cover, and that's pretty cool.

Writers: 

G. Willow Wilson

Marguerite Bennett

Artists:

Jorge Molina

Craig Yeung

Colorists:

Laura Martin

Matt Milla

Letterer: 

VC’s Cory Petit

Marvel’s Mightiest Women finally get their own explosive series! In a secluded corner of the Battleworld, an island nation is fiercely protected by a team of Avengers the likes of which has only ever been glimpsed before… Fighting to protect the small sliver of their world that’s left, the Amazing A-FORCE stands shoulder-to-shoulder, ready to take on the horde!

What’s left to be said about Marvel’s A-Force? After The New Yorker author Jill Lepore doused the characters inside with criticism, author G. Willow Wilson came back with a defense that really cemented a reason for the title’s existence. This is the Marvel Universe, and these are the ladies of the Marvel Universe coming together in the middle of Secret Wars. Bringing me back to the first question: what’s left to be said about Marvel’s A-Force? The answer is if the title is actually any good — to which I would respond: yes…yes it is.

Jorge Molina delivers some interiors that are more than worthy of the beautiful Jim Cheung cover gracing this issue. The linework and facial expressions from the various characters are rendered with absolute care. It’s easy to differentiate the various heroine’s lacing the tale as well, thanks in part to the excellent coloring of Laura Martin and Matt Milla. From a presentation perspective, the way that this book introduces itself is breathtaking. The first couple pages hide a double-page spread that dovetails into the nicely introduced recap section. The excellent facial perspectives really bring out another strength of the art in this title: the ambitious layouts allow for some truly dynamic action.

The ladies of the Marvel Universe unite to defend Arcadia — which is the name of the A-Force island contained within Secret Wars. Also, Marvel definitely delivers on that preview promised with Captain Marvel punching a shark — I’ll be forever grateful for that. This title gets some props for giving Dazzler a moment to shine, as well as many supporting cast members featured in this issue. Thanks to the art of Molina even the moments of downtime really do some poignant here (see the opening pages.)

Eventually the larger perspective of Secret Wars begins to shed some light on how the girls ended up in the singular location. The way the narrative is thrust into into the greater conflict seems appropriate — and actually makes the conflict more natural than it would have been if it wasn’t launching during the event. This is actually a pretty good Secret Wars tie-in as well. There’s a few characters in this narrative that are going to surprise readers. We don’t quite know everyone in the cast just from the cover here. Also, many of the relationships have been changed since we are thrust in the middle of Secret Wars. Reading the main title is essential for full reader comprehension to start to get a sense of how the world is actually different. This isn’t just the Battleworld of the Secret Wars from 1984, it’s a new Battleworld that’s much better fleshed out. In fact, new elements of Battleworld are introduced into this issue that should offer even more intrigue to the current status of the event as a whole.

It’s also hard not to appreciate how Wilson and Bennett turn the attention towards a few of the characters in the Marvel Universe that aren’t as well known. Just handing over the screen time to characters like Phoenix or Captain Marvel would have been fun, but the authors go a step further in introducing some old favorites. While there is indeed a lot to love about the issue, the best part of A-Force #1 is how it both retains a plot and functions as an excellent addition to the current Secret Wars crossover. Marvel is changing the direction of the current Universe, and it’s up to the ladies to protect it. Wilson, Bennett, and Molina are destined to help the women of Arcadia defend their region of Battleworld against harm in the pages of A-Force.

The Beat Staff has been…busy lately with two events going on and the Ultimate Universe coming to an end (sort of) this week. All of us that write here at The Beat live at the Stately Beat Manor where our heads are stuck in the printed page from early morning to late in the day. However, we’ve had some…distractions as of late. We have had a series of unwelcome guests from the pages of these…comic books come and crash our party — or unwavering focus on delivering the news delivered straight to our astute fans and readers. Unfortunately, our newest guest did the unthinkable when he made his way over to the Beat Manor. His name — Matter-Eater Lad of the Legion of Superheroes. We noticed our comics supply dwindling over the past few weeks, and in truth, we we’re happy with it. Here at the Manor, the Beat Staff has been running low on space to store their books — but when crucial high priced back issues were missing from the pile, we had a feeling that something was wrong. After a Beat Stakeout we caught one of the weirdest legionnaires in the act of literally devouring expensive older issues. We took him to small claims court and relinquished a large part of the Legion’s monetary reserves. All’s well that ends well — here’s our top comics picks for this week.

Alex’s Picks:

A-Force #1

Writer: G. Willow Wilson & Marguerite Bennett Artist: Jorge Molina Cover: Jim Cheung

Marvel’s Mightiest Women finally get their own explosive series! In a secluded corner of the Battleworld, an island nation is fiercely protected by a team of Avengers the likes of which has only ever been glimpsed before..Fighting to protect the small sliver of their world that’s left, the Amazing A-FORCE stands shoulder-to-shoulder, ready to take on the horde!

No single issue this week has been buzzed about more than A-Force #1. The comic has been the headline of more than a couple of fascinating news stories, and was supposed to be announced on The View. Afterwards, a piece from Jill Lepore via The New Yorker lit the internet on fire. Now, the comic is finally here written by the incredibly well respected author G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett featuring the art of Jorge Molina. The comic is a tie-in to Marvel’s new Secret Wars event, that fetures various Avengers females teaming up together in a certain region within Battleworld. The pedigree of the tale alone should allow it to become more than just a silly news story — but it’s up to the quality of the book to capture the attention of the readers.

Oh Killstrike #1

Writer: Max Bemis Artist: Logan Faerber Colorist: Juan Manuel Tumburus Letters: Jim Campbell

WHAT’S TO LOVE: Say Anything frontman Max Bemis writes a love letter to 1990s superhero comics in this tongue-in-cheek homage to the era, featuring the art stylings of Logan Faerber – reminiscent of works by Chip Zdarsky and Jeff Lemire. Much like Polarity, Oh, Killstrike is very personal to Bemis: It’s about a new dad who loves comics from his youth. Part twisted buddy comedy, part profound coming-of-age story, we could not stop smiling when reading Oh, Killstrike. WHAT IT IS: Jared, a new father, fears parenthood. An old comics fan, he turns to them for comfort. But when he unwittingly lets loose his favorite character, Killstrike – a single minded, vengeance loving anti-hero – onto the world, Jared must find a way to send him back before he harms all the people he loves the most. But before that happens, Killstrike leads Jared on a quest of self-discovery to make him realize the kid who loved this character is not the man he has become.

In the wake of the end of the Ultimate Universe, we chose to look at something a little different — Oh Killstrike #1 from Boom Studios. The series has an incredibly enticing premise, featuring a vengeance seeking 90’s rebel attempting bothering the life of Jared, a brand new father attempting to escape his stressful via the escapism of comic books. Killstrike is on the difficult new quest of acclimating Jared to his upcoming quest of being able to cope with a brand new kid. Author Max Bemis has written some interesting stories with titles like Evil Empire and Polarity. He’s joined by Logan Faerber — an alumni of Bravest Warriors, Adventure Time, and Regular Show — this story is a departure from the rest of Faerber’s works.

Brandon Schatz’s Pick:

Optic Nerve #14

Optic Nerve 14 brings Adrian Tomine’s multifaceted, expressive cartooning to a new peak with two stories and a bonus autobiographical strip. “Killing and Dying” is about a father’s struggles to be supportive: it centers on parenthood, mortality, and stand-up comedy. “Intruders” depicts a man obsessively trying to find his way back to a former life by revisiting places he once knew. Optic Nerve 14 will appear on the twentieth anniversary of Tomine’s beloved comic book series, in whose pages the landmark graphic novel Shortcomings was first published. Each story in Optic Nerve 14 reveals new dimensions to Tomine’s unique visual sensibility and complex, character-driven stories.

A new issue of Optic Nerve is a rare and beautiful thing to behold. Adrian Tomine is one of those fancy-pants comic creators who make the bulk of their “money” doing “art” for the “New Yorker” instead of rolling in the fat stacks of cash that exist in the comic book industry. As a result, issues of Optic Nerve occur few and far in-between – but the results are always stunning. Everyone in Optic Nerve seems to be screaming just behind the eyes whether they know it or not, as they claw and attempt to find perfection in flawed worlds. Equally uncomfortable and exquisitely beautiful, this is the event comic I wait each and every year (or two) for.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have stacks of comics in boxes to ignore as I read through this before my store opens.

A pinup from artist George Petty, alluded to in Prof. Lepore’s piece

I kind of missed the tidal ebb and flow over Jill Lepore’s analysis of A-Force in the New Yorker while I was at TCAF. I saw it in my feed and figured it would ignite some debate but I was misled by the title on the piece

Looking at Female Superheroes with Ten-Year-Old Boys

as opposed to the internet title of the piece

Why Marvel’s Female Superheroes Look Like Porn Stars

which is a bit more clickbaity.

But what no one seems to have commented on is that MARVEL SENT THE NEW YORKER AN ADVANCE COPY OF A-FORCE! The issue doesn’t go on sale until May 20th, but here it is:

The morning after we saw “Age of Ultron”—a sleepover was involved—Captain Comics and Mr. What? and I read the first issue of “A-Force” at the kitchen table, unheroically, over waffles. I asked the captain to tell me who the women on the cover were: a swarm of female superheroes.

“She-Hulk, Phoenix, Scarlet Witch, Storm, Medusa, Rogue, Wasp, Electra,” he began. “Rescue, Miss—no, Miss Marvel, Black Widow,” he trailed off, vaguely. “I think that’s Dazzler…”

As you probably know, the co-author of the comic, G. Willow Wilson, gave a spirited rebuttal to Lepore’s musings over sueperheroine’s descent from pin-ups of the 30s:

So I was a bit surprised that someone who obviously values rigorous scholarship would analyze the first issue of a crossover event without any apparent knowledge of what a crossover event is, or what the heavily tongue-in-cheek “feminist paradise,” Arcadia, represents in the context of the Secret Wars and the wider Marvel Universe. (Does she know about the zombies? Somebody please tell her about the zombies.) Thus decontextualized, what Dr. Lepore is left with is a cover depicting a bunch of characters about whom she admits to knowing nothing, and one fifth of a story, which is perhaps why her analysis reads as so perplexingly shallow, even snarky.

As sympathetic as I am to Wilson, and supportive of the idea of an all-woman Avengers, there are a few people in the world—mostly history professors at Harvard, like Lepore, I suppose—who don’t know what a crossover event is. They may not even care. Lepore was responding to one set of tropes, while Wilson writes that the comic was created with knowledge of those same tropes:

We, the creators and editors (three women and a gay dude, by the way) are aware that the characters in A FORCE come from a bewildering mashup of genres and mythologies and time periods. That’s the whole point. A FORCE comes out of a very specific conversation about gender in comics that has been evolving rapidly in the past few years, driven as much by fandom as it is by creators and editors. Across the industry, we have been systematically un-fridging (I’ll let Dr. Lepore google that one) female characters who may have gotten short shrift in the past, looking at their backstories, and discovering, as a community, what has been left unsaid. And in A FORCE, we’ve put them all together–for the first time.

I was frankly, more interested in the story suggested by the visible title, examining just how tweener boys, the traditional audience for superheroes, actually respond to female characters, a reaction seemingly at the root of the dearth of Black Widow and Gamora merchandise, as well as the male audience that many observers to comics still presume. Lepore did quiz her kids a bit, but didn’t dig in:

“All the girls here have, like, gigantic cleavages,” Captain Comics said, giggling.

“Why do they have gigantic cleavages?” I asked. Did it seem inevitable to these little boys, I wondered, that women would be drawn this way?

“Because they’re girls, Mom,” Mr. What? said. “What else is going to happen?” And he laughed, because it was funny, and he knew I would find that funny—the idea that nothing else was possible—the way it’s funny when Jessica Rabbit says, “I’m not bad. I’m just drawn that way.” Alas, the Avengers are not funny, and neither are the She-Avengers.

I’d also like to draw attention to another rebuttal that Wilson linked to that hasn’t gotten as much attention, written by Leia Calderon, a member of the retail group the Valkyries:

Perhaps you were concerned with how much of female superheroes are drawn for the male gaze, which is a completely valid concern. Let’s talk about how to fix that. How do we reclaim She-Hulk from the fantasies of teenage boys, if that’s all a grown woman like yourself sees when she opens A-Force? I pictured She-Hulk as she is and turned an imaginary boob-dial in my head to reduce her cup-size… and my stomach churned. It felt like body-shaming a powerful character that I adore, and would adore no less if she had a different figure than the one she’s had for almost 25 years. I understand your superficial criticism, but not your implied solution.

Obviously, there are some deep cultural forces at play here, and one would hope that A-Force will be able to transcend them. I guess I’ll have to wait until May 20th like everyone except the Lepore household to find out.

Marvel’s A-Force #1 from G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett with art from Jorge Molina features a stable of the publishers mightiest female heroes — and Captain Marvel punching a shark. The comic takes place during Battleworld in the upcoming Secret Wars event, which see’s nearly every Marvel character converging (haha) on one singular planet. The warriors attempt to defend their section of Battleworld, and Marvel notes that they have to fight off a mysterious horde. Nestled in the preview art is a mysterious woman in the back of the roster (five points to anyone who can figure out who she is in the comments!) The title includes a large roster of characters including familiar faces like She-Hulk, Spider-Woman, Rogue, Dazzler, Phoenix, Pixie, Captain Marvel, Medusa and more. The new comic is set to debut at local comic shops on May 20, 2015 at a $3.99 price point. Cover artists include Jim Cheung, Jorge Molina, Stephanie Hans, Russell Dauterman, Adam Hughes, and more. Thanks to CBR for the preview. More importantly, Captain Marvel punches a shark in this comic…you’re welcome.

A-FORCE #1 (MAR150665)
Written by G. WILLOW WILSON & MARGUERITE BENNETT
Art by JORGE MOLINA
Inhumans 50^th Anniversary Variant by ADAM HUGES (MAR150666)
Variant Covers by RUSSELL DAUTERMAN (MAR150667) STEPHANIE HANS (MAR150668)
JORGE MOLINA (MAR150669) and SKOTTIE YOUNG (MAR150670)
Blank Variant Also Available (MAR150671)
FOC – 04/27/15, On-Sale – 05/20/15
As the Secret Wars begin, the Avengers as you know them are no more – and a new team will lead the way! In a secluded corner of Battleworld lies Arcadia, an island nation fiercely protected by a team of Avengers the likes of which has never been seen before!
So who are the Marvel powerhouses taking center stage? “She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru and other fan favorites, will take charge,” says series co-writer G. Willow Wilson. “We’ve purposefully assembled a team composed of different characters from disparate parts of the Marvel U, with very different power sets, identities and ideologies.”
And there came a day unlike any other, when Earth’s Mightiest Heroines found themselves united against a common threat. Fighting to protect the small sliver of their world that’s left, they stand tall, shoulder-to-shoulder, ready to take on the horde. Ushering in a new day with a rallying cry heard across Battleworld – A-FORCE ASSEMBLE!

Marvel is attempting to do something a little different with already published work via A-Force Presents Vol. 1. The series is a trade paperback anthology collection that presents work published from Marvel  in a new format shipping bi-monthly. Included in the first collection that is already up for pre-order for Amazon shoppers is Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, She-Hulk, Thor, Captain Marvel, and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.

Also included on Amazon is the release date for volume 1 at September 29th of this year at $13.49. The next volume known as A-Force Presents Vol. 2 is coming shortly after on November 24th at $14.99.

Marvel seems be aiming for fans who have never seen this material on the bookstore market. Over their last few years of publishing, there has been a renewed focus on younger female heroines. As of yet, we are unsure of what is being published in the second collection.

YUP. #AFORCE. #SECRETWARS @gwillowwilson. Jorge Molina. Me. pic.twitter.com/2gMiW851RW

— Marguerite Bennett (@EvilMarguerite) February 6, 2015

I guess the View ladies boofed this but the news is out– and PSYCHE IT WASN’T STAR WARS! Marvel is gathering its heroines for A-Force, an all female Avengers, with the creative team of Marguerite Bennett, G. Willow Wilson and Jorge Molina.

A raft of PR went out at 11:30 after the View was supposed to announce this, but they didn’t because…. Martha Stewart came on and talked about fringe, and Kim Catrall talked about life after the city of sex or something. YOU CANNOT CONTROL THE LADIES OF THE VIEW, people.

HuffPo supplies more of what we need to know:
Marvel Comics has gathered an all-female team of Avengers, who will begin saving the world this May. Fan favorite characters like She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa and Nico Minoru star in “A-Force,” a new monthly series that will follow these women as they fight evil. It’s written by G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite K. Bennett, with artwork from Jorge Molina.

“We’ve purposefully assembled a team composed of very different characters — from disparate parts of the Marvel U, with very different power sets, identities and ideologies,” Wilson said in a statement. “They’ll all have to come together to answer some big questions: what would you sacrifice to succeed? What is being a hero worth?” The A-Force will also introduce, Singularity, a cosmically charged brand new super hero to the universe.
“Our heroines embody the ideals of what we can each strive to be,” Bennett said in the same statement. “A-Force” is Marvel’s 15th female-led comic series and represents a dramatic shift in comic culture. Last September, Marvel made waves when it announced that the new Thor would be a woman.

“Marvel has always celebrated the diversity of its family of characters and creators,” series editor Daniel Ketch said. “This new series will unite Marvel’s mightiest heroines with the exceptionally creative minds of writers G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett to craft a story full of epic battles, personal triumphs, and heart-stopping peril … and an all-new character who will push the boundaries of diversity in comic books even further.”

Oh and here’s a variant cover by Stephanie Hans.