Ah yes, the symbiotic summer (is it still Summer?) event is finally here. They’ve teased it. They’ve edged us with it. They’ve blue balled other events just to get us here, so now that Queen in Black is ready to get started on the latest big cosmic catastrophe that somehow finds Earth in its crosshairs…how does everything stack up?
To say Queen in Black #1 treads familiar ground would be an understatement, and you’d think the Earth would be better prepared by now for another symbiote invasion (what is this? Like the 3rd or 4th time already?!) in the last 10 years. But here we are with Al Ewing and company merging his Asgardian and Venom runs into a Michael-Bay level event where familiar spectacle doesn’t do much for any real leaps in storytelling, but there’s certainly enough to keep the reptilian part of your mammal brain entertained with all the action that comes from standard Marvel event fare.
It’s World War V
Issue #1 is a mammoth-sized starting point for the event, quickly establishing the players and the stakes for everything to come. Which is great if you haven’t read EVERY SINGLE issue, mini-series, or one-shot related to this event. So to keep it simple, let’s go: the game of cosmic chess between Hela and Knull is finally reaching its crescendo. In one corner, you have Hela – newly empowered as the Queen in Black – and her symbiotic + Asgardian armies hurtling towards Earth to achieve her own evil ends that may or may not have to do with Asgard’s recent disappearance. On the other end we have My Chemical Romance lovechild Knull – also newly empowered as the…um, * checks notes * King in Bright – who wants nothing more than to use his army of new seraphim (that’s new “symbiotes” made of crystals and sparkly bits) to take petty vengeance against not just Hela, but also Earth and the heroes who caused his fall from grace in the first place. May his pettiness rule eternally.
And speaking of Earth? Well, yeah. Our precious planet is once again caught in the middle, but at least all the heroes had a good warning in advance from Captain Alliance – a Skrull version of Captain America. You’ve got a pretty decent lineup of Avengers and symbiote heroes ready to go, with Venom and Iron Man leading the charge. And of course, as Hela intensifies her attacks on a global scale, our heroes are split across the planet trying to take out massive alien engines of doom while others race off into space to try and halt both Knull and Hela’s advances. It’s bombastic, somewhat fantastic, but rarely ever stuff we haven’t seen before from a Marvel event of this scale. Oh, and there’s 48 pages of it too, so there’s no real shortage of adventuring to get through either.
Been There. Done That
Al Ewing really takes the reins of this event with a ton of gusto, coming in all guns blazing right off the bat. It’s a simple enough framing for the man: having to converge both his recent work on Thor and Venom (oh, and that one Knull series too) into one cohesive event that spans Earth and the stars with the most cataclysmic stakes of them all! That is, until you realize we’re just playing the same old “universe-ending threat” hits sprinkled in with some “heroes must unite against the ultimate evil” storyline once more with Earth caught squarely in the middle. We’ve been over this a hundred times already, so if you’re expecting anything different in Queen in Black, Ewing isn’t going to be giving you much hope of change. At least not yet.
For our primary two universal threats, let’s start with Hela. She’s honestly been far more interesting in the lead-up to this event, having slowly supplanted Knull’s previous dominion to secure her own power. Now having built up her army of symbiotic soldiers, we see her enact her plan in true world-ending fashion. For this issue at least, it’s a straightforward assault with very little subtlety, which kind of undercuts her character in general. We’ve seen these moves play out throughout her career in the past, and while having Tyr to temper her plans with a bit more depth, Hela herself as the biggest mover and shaker of the chessboard as well as being the namesake for the event lacks any real menace to her goals beyond just dropping an army on Earth’s doorstep. Honestly, a better reflection of her character is in the tie-in issue Queen in Black: Hela, also penned by Ewing, which offers far more depth to her plans.
On the flipside of the spectrum, we have Knull, fresh off his glorious victory and power-scaling adventures in his own mini. While still the same single-minded, one-track, petty diva that he is, there is a little bit more nuance to his new role as the embodiment of the Lightforce. While Knull still functions as a force of nature hell-bent on returning the universe to a void of silence, there’s an irony that Ewing manages to cheekily touch on about how his new powers of creation are actually changing him slightly. As he goes about creating his latest vanity projects with his new “Seraphim” symbiotes and even his new palace, Knull acknowledges the subtle trap of creation, but still somehow pulls away from destroying his works (even if he considers it). THAT for once in the character’s not-so-long yet lamely one-dimensional history, breaks the mould. So, it’s amusing that there’s a crumb of celestial growth here in the mix. Whether that translates into anything of substance remains to be seen, but Ewing did put it there so it’s bound to have some value.
Finally, the “war” aspect of the first issue itself plays out how you’d expect. There’s not much to say here as Avengers of every shade and primary color gather around their designated briefing tables, discuss the dire situations they’re facing this time, make a few inspirational speeches, and then strike out across the planet and space to deal with threats. When I compare this to a Transformers movie from the early 2000s, I’m not kidding in the slightest, because the template is pretty much the same. Heck, you even get strange aliens turning the pyramid into a weapon of mass destruction before the heroes show up to decimate it. Familiar? You’re damned right it is. Fun? Hell yes. It’s the kind of action adventuring you turn your brain off for, even though there are standout moments that catch your attention. Like Nova taking on Knull on his own, or Beta Rey Bill getting to rally his compatriots for a big fight, or that one twist at the end in New York with the latest Kree-Skrull weapon with an added symbiotic flare.
There’s a lot going on in this massive issue, and Ewing is keen to keep all his plates spinning. You’d think a symbiote-centric event would have more focus on Venom or even Spidey, but they’re doing the best to keep things local, while other characters take the fight to the cosmos with their own teams and plans. There’s plenty of action but not really any substance beyond what we’ve seen play out a thousand times in events like this, so I’m curious to see how the next few issues proceed to change the mould, if only a little.
Color Me Impressed
So what’s really gonna make or break this event beyond the writing? Why the art, of course. Fortunately, Iban Coello and Guru e-FX take on the lion’s share of line work and coloring, respectively, for this big first issue epic, and it really shows. But there’s a bit of an added bonus with the ever-impressive Ze’ Carlos also tag-teaming in with his line work for a select few panels of cosmic fun as well.
For the most part, Coello’s art really does capture the essence of some of the bigger “epic” moments throughout the book, with great splash pages of multiple heroes all in frame as well as super-kinetic action sequences throughout. This is an action movie through and through, and Coello follows that assignment to a T with the kind of art you’ve come to know and love from superhero comics over the years. It’s safe yet familiar stuff, but that doesn’t mean it’s boring in the slightest, even if there are some questionable facial features throughout the book. One shot of MJ’s new look as Venom is particularly scarring, feeling more Deadite-inspired and unnerving than heroic, not counting the few times where characters appear a little too plastic and anime-esque with their facial expressions.
Meanwhile, Carlos steps in to handle Knull’s sections of the book, as well as a few other smaller character bits which play up the more grim stakes of the story. Though sparse and scattered throughout the issue, Carlos manages to make Knull’s new powers look menacing enough, and there’s a drawn-out fight with Nova that’s particularly thrilling to see. Similarly, another page where Tony Stark, the Fantastic Four, and Nova convene is appropriately grim with the line and colorwork. Amidst both these artists’ varying line work, Guru e-FX brings the appropriate shades of color to each artist’s unique style. For Coello, he really leans into the bright heroic shades and larger-than-life action-movie color palettes, while Carlos’ pages get the grimmer treatment in comparison, with Knull’s harsh light devouring frames or eerie computer lights painting grimey and tired heroes’ faces as they contemplate bad news. There’s certainly a lot to enjoy on the visual front here, for sure.
A Fine Start to Be Sure, But…
Combining the cosmic and the grounded in the way that only a Michael Bay movie could – make of that analogy what you will – Queen in Black #1 makes the most of its oversized page count to firmly set the stage for all the stakes and action to come. There’s certainly a huge plethora of characters to cover, but for the most part Ewing and his friends manage to give the major players their necessary focus while also accentuating smaller character beats here and there. And while some might be a little iffy about another symbiote-centric event (where Venom seems to have taken a bit of a backseat in the starting issue) in such a short amount of time, there is some comfort, I suppose, in knowing how Marvel’s standard approach to big summer events still remains more or less intact.
But I fear that predictability is what might ultimately hamper the event of this scale, especially when the quality of various tie-ins seems to be better and more laser-focused than this sprawling event book. Granted, that has more to do with the scope, but this early on, very little convinces me that Queen in Black is going to be anything more than dumb fun that doesn’t really shake up the universe in any meaningful way, as is the case with most Marvel events in the modern era.
Final Verdict: Queen in Black #1 sets the warfront squarely in focus with the kind of stupidly bombastic action you’ve come to accept from standard Marvel Event fare.