If there’s one small thing I’m grateful for with Queen in Black, it’s that there’s not a long wait between issues. Having two marquee event issues back-to-back weeks really does play well with the whole frantic nature of the event – which takes place over the course of a few short hours in the Marvel world – and does a good job in keeping things fresh in readers’ minds. What’s a little more tenuous, however, is exactly just how much the creative team is trying to stick in the first place.
While this is a much shorter issue than the first one, Queen in Black #2 seems to be a bit too concerned with marketing information from tie-in issues to fill in the plot while at the same time blazing through the events of the here and now that were left back in issue #1. But, hey! It’s a symbiote event that’s finally putting Dylan Brock back in focus. Oh wait? What’s that? He’s the McGuffin that everyone wants a piece of again? Oh…well…
Get the Kid
Issue #2 starts with tracking multiple Avengers + X-Men teams across the globe as they fight the multiple symbiote alliance incursions that Hela’s unleashed upon the planet. We’ve got Wolverine and Storm facing off against reality-warping symbiote hosts, Cap and company warring in the UK against even more vicious foot soldiers, and we have Cable and Iron Man fretting over their ongoing operations in Queen in Black: Light & Dark (a fairly cool tie-in with some eclectic Avengers teams working in tandem), showing us just how wide-spanning the current threat is.
Meanwhile, the titular Hela herself reveals more of her plans beyond what readers of Queen in Black: Hela already know: that her machinations for this latest Earth invasion is to carve the planet into the biggest Norn Stone evaaaaar, so that she can gain cosmic dominion and eventually rule all of the ten realms (unless there’s more, it’s hard to keep track these days without a score card). And she just so happens to see another tool that can make that possible: namely one Dylan Brock, erstwhile son of Venom, and heir to the symbiote empire, so to speak. So of course, she sets her sights on him, and thanks to Dylan’s impulsiveness and the appearance of a much-missed and now thoroughly symbiotified face from ye’ old Marvel cosmic pantheon, she quickly gets her wish, and Dylan in her ugly mitts.
When the Marketing Overshadows the Story
Al Ewing is way too fond of his world-building, and I say this as both a compliment and a detriment in equal measure. He’s done a LOT building some expansive mythologies – pulling from the past and present histories of the characters he’s shepherding – for Venom and Thor (and Green Lantern too, if you’re fond of his current DC catalogue at the moment). The most die-hard of Marvel fans will really always have little tidbits to sink their teeth into in an Al Ewing story, and Queen in Black is no exception. What becomes a bit of a problem a little too quickly is that Ewing’s enthusiasm to throw so much lore at the wall in a relatively small amount of time can quickly become very overwhelming, almost like it feels like homework. And this is also where Queen in Black #2 is no exception.
I think the first issue worked so well, despite its massive page count, because it had the goal of setting up the chessboard very clearly in mind: establish every single player and point of contention going in, so that subsequent issues could pick up the lead more directly and tell the story they wanted to tell. But Queen in Black #2 feels more like a “this happened there, then this happened here, and now this is happening here”. Those defined stakes are a bit more lacking when we’re constantly shunted across Avengers teams across the Earth (like we have been for a million different events before this one), or we’re told about more oblique goals that are happening in tie-in issues (which are also written by Ewing). There’s honestly a LOT of telling instead of showing, and that chaotic scramble hurts this issue in particular, despite all the really fun action going on.
One place this deviates is with having a bit more clarity on Hela’s motivations, where she explains her plans for the planetary Norn Stone and expands her goals to include Dylan when the opportunity presents itself. This makes sense considering what we’ve seen established in the tie-in, but it’s also what should’ve been done a little better with other plot points in the story too, instead of having to have readers comb through other weeklies to see what’s going on at all. I understand that this is the nature of big Marvel events where you won’t really get full context when you’re not reading EVERY SINGLE book, but a little help goes a long way in making things enjoyable for readers. Though the overaching concept of having symbiotic alien hosts with their own special powers causing unexpected problems for our heroes is a great idea, and I really do want to see more of that going forward.
On another note, watching the Avengers battle across the world is something we’ve seen a thousand times over, and it doesn’t really play up the threat of the matter. Similarly, we’ve already seen Dylan Brock play the role of coveted deus ex machina many times over in recent years as well, so it can get a little grating that he’s being hunted (and eventually captured) once more. Additionally, neither Venom nor the Asgardians (except for Hela, of course) play much of a role in this issue beyond being either absent or just angrily flailing around against random gooey hordes. Oh, and Knull, for whatever reason, is entirely absent in this issue, despite Hela claiming to have contingencies for him. Though you could probably chalk that up to him being caught up with murdering the Avengers team sent to deal with him in another tie-in.
Ultimately, the writing for issue #2 doesn’t lack in big action moments. But that’s all this is, with far too much of the real meat of Ewing’s concepts being relegated to far better-written tie-ins. Maybe that is how the event will progress, because the next issue is out in another week, but the breakneck pace coupled with very little substance just feels something we’ve seen far too many times already and is far less than Ewing’s writing, or these characters deserve.
Art That Thrives…When Its in Sync
While Iban Coello and Guru e-FX continue to put their best work into this series again, they’re joined for this issue by artist Paco Medina, whose fun style is already a mainstay for many popular books of late. But unlike Ze’ Carlos’ work, which blended in seamlessly in the previous issue, Paco Medina’s random pages do feel a little more disjointed in the grand narrative.
For the most part, Iban Coello continues to draw impeccable action sequences throughout this issue as well. You can really get a sense of how he draws symbiotic action in general, and really revels in the liquid nature of his subjects. His redesign for a certain returning Marvel Boy is also pretty sleek and epic, combining that iconic design with all the symbiotic goodness you can expect. And this is true for most of the comic as well, where Coello’s style fits in best. However, the segments that Paco Medina takes over from are far more rigid and defined, and feel at odds with the Coello pages before and after them. Medina is assigned to handle the Avengers segments spread out across different cities, and there’s a particularly great full page spread of Wolverine fighting a reality warping symbiote that’s shown in such a fun way, but the rest of his drawings feel little more static and less frantic than Coello’s sequences, and this hampers the flow of the book greatly when you’re shifting from artist to artist.
As for the coloring, Guru-eFX continues to make these books the vibrant, cinematic blockbusters they are, with every hero and villain having defined color palettes that are instantly recognizable even amidst the fiercest of fights. It’s reliable work, and it shows across the linework of both artists he’s partnered with, which goes to show the effectiveness of his skills throughout.
It’s a Rush
I think Queen in Black #2 particularly starts to wane in potential when compared to its previous issue in the way it frames all its elements. While the first issue did a really good job of laying the groundwork for the entire event, maximizing every single one of its pages, this issue goes a little too far and fast with getting from point A to B, which is a weird choice to be doing so early on in an event. Yet here we are. Having an issue feel like coursework because of all the meatier story bits being relegated to tie-ins mentioned in little yellow boxes doesn’t help matters either, especially when you’re getting lore dumps and the same old action set pieces to try and cover those up.
What this issue does have saving it more than anything is the art, which continues to look and feel good for the kind of story it’s telling. I’m just hoping that Ewing and the writing side can shore that up more effectively, because right now this has all the hallmarks of being another rushed event on the Marvel yearly calendar.
Final Verdict: Queen in Black #2 is a relative downgrade from the previous issue, choosing to be far more chaotic and meandering than the more defined stakes of the debut issue, while still throwing far too many tie-in references and pieces at the wall to make the action stick somehow.