Holiday Tales to Astonish #1

I must have been really good this year. Or Marvel must have gotten tired of me complaining. Because this year, the House of Ideas released not one, not two, but 3 Christmas specials!  

Holiday Tales to Astonish #1 was the first one that I read. It's regular cover by Luciano Maher elicits memories of that pair of tabloid sized holiday specials from the 1970s. It really got me right in the holiday feels. Thankfully unlike those classics, of which I'm still on the hunt for one of them, there's no reprints here. Instead, we get 3 great all-new seasonal stories that represent Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's.

The Fantastic Four star in the Christmas themed story. Don't worry, Ben Grimm is still a member of the Tribe and his faith is represented at the beginning. However, the Festival of Lights is saved for story #2. In the opener, Reed Richards is getting reports of traces of plutonium popping up in Manhattan. Investigating a possible nuclear weapon being armed, the FF instead run into Doctor Doom, dressed as Santa Claus and playing the role of the Grinch by stealing toys from the boys and girls of the Big Apple.

The middle story goes back in time to the Chris Claremont/John Byrne era of the Uncanny X-Men. It shows Kitty Pryde's first Hanukkah at the Xavier School. Don't worry, classic Hanukkah issue Uncanny X-Men #143 is still canon. We just catch a glimpse of what transpired during the other 7 days of Hanukkah. 

The final story occurs on New Year's Eve. When his girlfriend comes under the weather, Miles Morales gets invited to a different countdown to the New Year party by folks he didn't realize considered him a friend. When the Peter Parker Spidey and Hydro-Man interrupt the festivities, Miles learns an important lesson about the personal sacrifices a superhero has to make. 

All three stories were exceptionally written. The art varied. Pat Olliffe is definitely a graduate of the John Byrne school of uncanny art. It felt like an lost tale from one of the greatest partnerships in Marvel history. Dylan Burnett's work on the Spider-Men story was fair. It has more of that teen graphic novel look to it. Not as detailed but still pleasant on the eyes. But what in the world happened on that Fantastic Four story?

Phil Noto was the artist. Normally, his work is amazing. Noto does stunning work on the various Star Wars titles he contributes too. Especially his covers. Maybe that is more of his forte, because the art for the opener was a hot mess. Look, I know that I don't read that much modern Fantastic Four. But what is up with Johnny Storm's porn star mustache? Just because Mr. Fantastic can assume very fluid shapes, that doesn't mean that he should always be drawn like that. And I know that Wolverine is short. But he's not a midget. A lot of long-established Marvel fans criticize the current offerings of art as really bad. I tend to be more forgiving. However, with the first story, along with some of ads for upcoming 2025 projects, I could see what they're talking about.

Speaking of 2025, I cannot wait for the 5 What If... Galactus one-shots coming up in January. They look epic!

Great reading. Varying art. 100% holiday themed. Thank you Marvel for putting out an honest to goodness holiday special! It was a great gift for the fans and I hope it's a tradition that continues for years to come!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Star Wars: Chewbacca (2015)

If you think that the reason I choose now to read the collection version of this 2015 Marvel miniseries is due to the untimely death of actor Peter Mayhew, buy yourself a cee-gar!  The death of the first actor to portray everyone's favorite Wookiee hit me, a literal life-long Star Wars fan (I was born in 1977), very hard. My second eldest child is actually named after the co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon (and yes, Chewie is a human boy!) 

Naturally, there's quite a bit of affection for the character in my family. Along with lighting a candle in front on a copy of Episode IV on DVD, I wanted to do something else in tribute to Mayhew. So, I decided to finally hit my local library and check out this book. 

The story takes place sometime very soon after the Battle of Yavin. Chewie is on a secret mission when he crash lands on a mining planet teetering on the edge of falling under the dominion of the Empire. All the Wookiee wants to do is buy the needed part to repair his fighter and complete his mission. But when he falls under the charms of an escaped slave girl, Chewbacca will risk everything to make sure this planet doesn't fall under the iron boot of the Empire like his beloved home world of Kashyyk!

The artwork of Phil Noto is very good. The X-23 artist uses a watercolor technique that gives the story a vintage feel. Chewbacca looks almost life-like. Though I did feel that the Wookiee's muzzle looked rather comical like a  Fu Manchu mustache. 

There was another element of Noto's art that was a tad confusing; that of Chewie's youthful companion, Zarro. In much of this 5-issue series, Zarro looks more like a 10-year old boy than a girl. It's not just because she has short hair. Zarro's face looks more masculine.

I'm wondering if Zarro was originally to be a boy. But Marvel, decided somewhere in final production to switch the character's gender. In some panels (and covers), Zarro looks like a young boy from Eastern Europe in about 75% of this book. The character just doesn't look consistent throughout. 

This mini was published during the Axel Alonso era in which Marvel Comics pandered diversity for the sake of sales and fan loyalty (and failed miserably.) So, I would not have put it past Marvel to decide that this story needed a feminine touch. Thus, in a massive rush to make deadline, Phil Noto had just enough time to touch up some panels but not all! I'd be interested to learn more about who was the model of Zarro and if my theory was right.

Gerry Duggan pens this story. I love his work on Deadpool. He's faithful to beloved source material while not being afraid of pushing the envelope. But this comic is one time that you needed Chewbacca's buddy Han Solo around. Nobody is around to interpret what Chewie has to say. I can understand id Gerry Duggan felt that by having Han around, this wouldn't be a Chewbacca solo tale. But this book needed someone around to help us understand what Chewie is saying; like maybe a protocol droid. As much as I've tried, I just don't speak Wookiee.

Speaking of being lost in translation- just what does Zarro's shirt say? I bet it's an awesome Easter egg. But as much as I don't know Wookiee, I speak even less Galactic Basic!

Star Wars: Chewbacca was a good read. But, it had some rough edges. But I enjoyed it. But if ever a book needed a director's cut style appendix about the art process (and maybe a Wookiee-to-English dictionary), this would be the book to need it.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.