Serials: Mayor Fisk Pt 1, Squirrel Girl 'Zine Issue

It's the second week in a row for weekly comics for me! Marvel Legacy has done a superb job of getting me back to comics. Before, the idea was that All-New #1's would bring in new readers. As if a new story was a jumping-on point for new readers. Now, they've gone the polar opposite direction! Now, after the four-ish reboots of Daredevil, they've added on all of the previous issues to the original numbering. Now, you feel as if you're reading part of a continuous story, as if you're a part of this history that's been going on.

Daredevil #595
by Charles Soule and Stefano Landini

In a strange twist of fate, Wilson "The Kingpin of Crime" Fisk has become Mayor of New York. I'm sure there was some kind of transition between him, and Mayor J. Jonah Jameson (as seen in Amazing Spider-Man!), but that's not the priority of the story. Immediately we're with wide-eyes Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson, confused amidst a celebration in Times Square. The idea is that Fisk was a last-minute write-in candidate, who campaigned on "law and order," normalcy, and accountability. Hm, wonder what that reminds you of.

Of course he's referring to super-heroes, but Fisk makes sure to align himself with the "real" heroes, the Avengers and not the street vigilantes like the Punisher and, yes, Daredevil, who leave behind messes for the city to clean up. We're even fed a story from one of Matt's paralegals who lost her car to one of Spider-Man's fights with the Rhino.

This issue serves as setup mostly, with not much to advance the plot. I've been told that Soule has done Daredevil good, so I'll stick around for the storyarc. Landini's pencils are unremarkable, but service the story just fine. I would have liked to see more weight given to the election -- it was a missed opportunity for a story that I'm afraid the writer glossed over.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #26
by Erica Henderson, Ryan North, and more!

The front cover says it's the 'zine issue, and boy is it! Squirrel Girl gets all her friends together to write different stories, so the idea is that each different story is written by a Marvel Comics character. For example, Kraven writes a story titled, "The True Story of Spider-Man," which is immediately followed by a one-page story from Spider-Man, titled "Hey Kraven, Squirrel Girl Showed Me Your Comic, So What the Heck." Hilarious!

There's an incredible amount of content packed into the pages, and I love the idea. The issue has this energetic youth about it, unrestrained by years of comics continuity. The last time I read something like this was probably in Strange Tales, also published by Marvel. It shows you that it's a publishing company not above poking fun at themselves, a tradition established as early as Not Brand Ecch, and just like before they do it with panache.

I love Howard the Duck's story, a 1-pager of him finding a noir-style dame who needs his help. It quickly (d)evolves into a makeout session of increasingly unlikely kissing positions! I just love the idea that this is how Howard thinks of himself -- or at least, how he would like to have his stories turn out -- a quick-witted man's man fowl's fowl, doing whatever he can to save the dames that come his way, resist him as he might.

Every story is a hit here. My other favorites include Kraven's story, and the Jugger-Nut and the Bat-Squirrel (written by Tippy-Toe the squirrel!). So charming!

There are some dastardly clever stories in here too. Loki's two-page splash is set up kind of like a game board, with panels leading yourself towards the center of the page, but there's a brilliant catch at the end of it. Wolverine's story is unique in that it was written by Laura (All-New Wolverine) Kinney, but it's about Logan's (Wolverine's) encounter, with a sentient Sentinel (Sentienel?).

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