Bought/Thought June 3rd 2009, SPOILERS contained within

[TheCorpulent1]

True. If he does defect, I'll be happy. He could go either way, really.

 

[Dread]

According to the covers, Black Bolt is a major player and combatant. So far, he hasn't been. He's barely even stood up from his chair and the only fight he was in he lost, in issue #1 (to, ironically, Gladiator, albeit with an assist from another Imperial Guard member). I won't believe where Gladiator is siding with yet until I read the pages. Classically he has been loyal to whoever is on the throne, whether D'Ken, Lilandra, or naturally Deathbird & Vulcan (technically Deathbird is the queen, just Vulcan usually was the aggressor and now Deathbird is in a coma, thanks to Lilandra). Abnett & Lanning have claimed to want to spill the beans on why Gladiator is so loyal to the throne in this event. It would be in character for him to side with Vulcan again simply because there are now no other options for regime change for the Shi'ar, beyond electing some non-royal or just staging an outright military coup, like Ronan did with the Kree. Gladiator has usually been a tool.

Of course, after killing Smasher and aiding the Starjammers/GOTG/Lilandra, one would have to wonder whether the often vengeful Vulcan wouldn't just order his execution.

Arguably Gladiator has been as close to a male lead in WAR OF KINGS as they have had, and he may end up gyping Havok and taking Vulcan down in the end.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Dread... you mentioned Raza as a casualty of the War of Kings, but he hasn't died. He was taken over by a symbiote and left behind. As far as we know he's fine (unless I misread that).

Lilandra is the only real death (though I guess if you want to count some of the Death Commandos they'd be in there. They were a decent sized deal for about 6 issues of Uncanny X-Men a few years back).


Also, I just noticed that the Raptor that killed Lilandra had red eyes, not blue. It was Darkhawk who dealt the killing blow.

And I just read on Newsarama from the writers that Lilandra is indeed dead.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I just bought my comics for the week and I have to say, I don't think I've ever been more blah with my selection. I read War of Kings quickly and loved it. Mighty was good. Dark Avengers was decent. Then I read New Mutants and was bored to tears. I may only make it to the end of the first arc with this title. And then I'm looking at Batman & Robin, and Cap. Britain & MI:13 Annual and I don't even really WANT to read them.

And then the big stinger. I somehow allowed myself to go on a whim to give Spidey a fair shot and bought my first issues since OMD, American Son parts 1 and 2. I figured I'd buy it for the Dark Reign tie-in and see how it plays along, but I can't look at them sitting on my desk without getting ticked off that I actually paid money for them. It actually makes me a little sick. I can't even bring myself to look in them let alone read them.

The good thing is that I bought them at a store I go to maybe three times a year and made it known to the man behind the counter that I only come there as much... so his seeing me buy those Spidey's shouldn't effect his quantity orders and my main comic shop doesn't know I bought them so they won't increase his orders either

Eh, I get what little satisfaction where I can.

I know a lot of people love the title, and I like it, but I think this tells me that I'm ready for Captain Britain to be canceled. It just does little for me (and I've never cared for Meggan). I think I'd be more excited for Batman & Robin but I'm still sick over Spider-man so I can't get excited for anything. At least I read War of Kings before my momentary stupidity became revealed to me. I'd hate to have that ruined too.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Based on this preview for #5, I don't think Gladiator's going back to Vulcan.

 

[Dread]

Dread... you mentioned Raza as a casualty of the War of Kings, but he hasn't died. He was taken over by a symbiote and left behind. As far as we know he's fine (unless I misread that).

Lilandra is the only real death (though I guess if you want to count some of the Death Commandos they'd be in there. They were a decent sized deal for about 6 issues of Uncanny X-Men a few years back).


Also, I just noticed that the Raptor that killed Lilandra had red eyes, not blue. It was Darkhawk who dealt the killing blow.

And I just read on Newsarama from the writers that Lilandra is indeed dead.

Darkhawk's Raptor name is "Razor". I'll have to look again. Chris Powell hasn't been in control of the amulet since ASCENSION #1.

Technically, Raza was bonded with a symbiote, but he was crushed at the underwater prison buried under tons of water and pressure and junk. That's quite a bit even for a symbiote enhanced being to survive. He's MIA but it doesn't look pretty.

Yeah, the Shi'ar Death Commandoes recently popped up during one of Claremont's last arcs on UXM. It wasn't pretty. They're just fodder, but it made sense to have Rachael react that way. They DID kill the entire Grey family (trying to kill all "Phoenix" related people on behalf of the Shi'ar, and of course missing Rachael, the only Grey who still had powers at the time. Idiots).

Based on this preview for #5, I don't think Gladiator's going back to Vulcan.

Interesting preview, considering it's just pencils.

Spoiler

- Vulcan doesn't seem too happy about something Talon (or Razor) is telling him. Maybe he's angry he didn't get to kill Lilandra personally? Or perhaps about Gladiator's betrayal?

- Black Bolt is, GASP, out of his chair and LOOKING STERN!

- Ronan apparently is fully recovered.

- Crystal seems to be kneeling before Black Bolt, probably telling him to quit the war before the Uplift program is a wash. Sadly, they can't because there has to be a 6th issue.

- Gladiator appears to be going ape**** alongside the Starjammers, slaughtering Shi'ar alongside them. He's all tearing off arms and zapping with heat-vision while strangling another dude.

Looks interesting. I'm psyched!

 

[JewishHobbit]

Darkhawk's Raptor name is "Razor". I'll have to look again. Chris Powell hasn't been in control of the amulet since ASCENSION #1.

Yeah, I just couldn't remember his Raptor name. You got the point though.

Technically, Raza was bonded with a symbiote, but he was crushed at the underwater prison buried under tons of water and pressure and junk. That's quite a bit even for a symbiote enhanced being to survive. He's MIA but it doesn't look pretty.

Ahh, forgot exactly how it ended. MIA is still MIA though. He's not confirmed dead so I think it's unfair to assume he is. So far I still think Lilandra is still the only major death of War of Kings.

 

[Dread]

Yeah, I just couldn't remember his Raptor name. You got the point though.

Yeah.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/060905-SpoilerSport-WoK4.html

Confirms from Abnett & Lanning that you're right about that one. Huh. Part of me is thinking that Chris may eventually "wake up" and take Talon down, but the universe may still blame him for killing Lilandra.

Or thank him. Hey, Shi'ar are annoying.

Ahh, forgot exactly how it ended. MIA is still MIA though. He's not confirmed dead so I think it's unfair to assume he is. So far I still think Lilandra is still the only major death of War of Kings.

True, although until they learn otherwise, the rest of the Starjammers can be forgiven for holding Vulcan responsible for losing Raza.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I REALLY want to see Vulcan get taken down by Havoc... but the more this series moves forward the more I'd love to see Gladiator just rip the dude in half. They keep playing up the Vulcan/Blackbolt fight... but I think Blackbolts is the LAST person who deserves to take him down. Gladiator and Havoc both deserve it more.

 

[Dread]

As I have stated in some topics, Gladiator and Crystal are the closest thing to "leads" in WAR OF KINGS so far (at least the event mini itself). They both do the majority of the narration and we usually experience the events through their eyes. While I would really, really, really, like Havok to take Vulcan down, as every issue go by I sort of doubt that will happen. He only had 2-3 lines this issue and they were pure mission functional stuff. Technically Gladiator was the last person who managed to beat Vulcan down back in "Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire" in UXM, at least before Havok's beat down of Vulcan in KINGBREAKER #4. Since then, of course, Vulcan's zapped the crud out of Warlock when challenged in GOTG.

Black Bolt is showing up on a lot of covers, but has done very little in the event itself. So far. It could be argued that he's been spanked a lot lately and could use the win, even if Havok could use it more, and has the emotional impact there (avenging his father). Still, though, I wouldn't discount a betting man putting chips on Gladiator for the epic win.

Personally, I'm with you, man. It should be Havok's kill.

 

[iloveclones]

Is it possible that they're setting up a "Gladiator" type situation in War of Kings? In the movie, it was Marcus Aurelius' intention to pass power onto his General (Russell Crowe, I'm forgetting the character's name...) Is it possible, when the dust settles that Gladiator (nice coincidence) could end up on the throne?

 

[Brainiac 8]

Something tells me that Crystal and Ronan are going to take control of the Kree and Inhumans by the end. Gladiator I could see as taking the throne of the Shiar.

I'm glad to see that Gladiator doesn't go running back to Vulcan and he really doesn't look happy.

My only gripe about this story so far is I wish Maximus had a larger role.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Is it possible that they're setting up a "Gladiator" type situation in War of Kings? In the movie, it was Marcus Aurelius' intention to pass power onto his General (Russell Crowe, I'm forgetting the character's name...) Is it possible, when the dust settles that Gladiator (nice coincidence) could end up on the throne?

It'd follow the same pattern that Ronan took to the throne of the Kree Empire. He was outcast, fought his way back to clear his name, realized the corruption in the Kree leadership would block him, and usurped the throne for himself even though he didn't really want it. Gladiator's betrayed the Shi'ar leadership for love, lost said love, and now he seems to be balls-to-the-wall crazy, which could lead to him fighting Vulcan for vengeance. We'll see...

 

[iloveclones]

In the movie, it was Marcus Aurelius' intention to pass power onto his General

I was determined not to wiki it, and finally remembered it was Maximus. Then I looked at Braniac's post, and realized there is also a Maximus involved in this story also. A Gladiator, a Maximus. Coincidence?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Uh, yeah. Probably.

 

[iloveclones]

Yeah, well, when Vulcan and Gladiator duke it out in a public arena after Gladiator almost pulls off a successful coup, both end up dying, and Gladiator is carried off by all the combatants: then we'll see who has the last laugh!

OK, maybe it's a little improbable....

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That would blow my mind. But Vulcan would wind up dead, so I'd be down with it.

 

[iloveclones]

I actually hope Vulcan doesn't die in all of this. I wouldn't say he's the greatest character they've ever come up with, but I'm sure they can find a place for him inthe MU and do something interesting with him down the line.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm sure they could, too. But it'd be so satisfying to watch him die horribly. Ideally, he'd be brought low by Havok but ultimately spared, and then Gladiator or Black Bolt would swoop in and be like, "You ain't my brother!" and pop his head like a grape.

 

[Dread]

It might be fun if it was the other way around, Vulcan is fighting Bolt or Gladiator and then Havok gets in a shot from the corner that no one expects, kind of like how Lilandra got zapped. Ideally for me, it's Havok's kill. Vulcan killed Corsair, caused the battle that cost them Raza, imprisoned and personally tortured both him, his lover Polaris, and other allies like Ch'od. That's a bit worse than being sucker-punched at a wedding when Lilandra all but warned Medusa that an attack from Vulcan was inevitable. There's no sentimental B.S. to get in Alex's way like Thor seems to have for the five minutes Loki wasn't trying to kill him back in childhood 10,000 years ago.

At this point in the story, Havok is a minor character. He is NOT going to get a long set-piece battle sequence over a character who has been on covers (Bolt) or is virtually the male lead (Gladiator). That's like allowing Chewbacca to beat Vader at the end of JEDI. It's not happening. The best he can hope for is a shot out of nowhere. Perhaps to spare Gladiator the "guilt" or rage of the Shi'ar populace he may end up ruling by personally assassinating their emperor-by-marriage. Havok's a Starjammer after all, and they're lowly space pirates, used to being the enemy of the empire under D'Ken or fallings out with Lilandra. Gladiator assassinating Vulcan and then taking his throne may not be as readily embraced.

It does look likely that Crystal and Ronan will rule over the Kree; Bolt may do some funny hand gesture that gives them control and Medusa would get all cross. Seriously, Awesome Andy needs to lend him his chalkboard.

It will be a shame if Havok misses this chance to upgrade as a character. Such chances only come once a decade for B-Listers like him and once you miss one, that is usually it. Just look at my poor X-Man Colossus, who hasn't done anything dramatically awesome since the Carter administration because he's had to step back for types like Storm or Wolverine or Gambit all these years. It will be a shame to Havok to have a tailor made enemy in Vulcan, a two bloody year subplot facing him and then to get cheated because he doesn't have a mohawk or a fork on his forehead. Bummer, dude. Cyclops would have SO wasted Vulcan by now. Even Spider-Man got to "kill" (or at least directly induce the death of) the man who killed his uncle/adopted father, and he hardly cried a river about it.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I sorta hope that Crystal does not remain married to Ronan.

 

[Dread]

To be fair, "ceremonial" marriages are ones where both sides are almost expected to cheat. Or at least that was the story Starfire told Nightwing once.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I sorta hope that Crystal does not remain married to Ronan.

I like them together. They're such an unlikely couple that they're fun. You can see them slowly coming to care for each other in War of Kings, too.

 

[Blader5489]

I'm pretty close to dropping War of Kings, though with two issues left, I might as well stick it out.

What a disappointment so far, though. I loved the original Annihilation, but DnA have really squandered the momentum that Giffen built up, first with Conquest and now this. I'd actually rate Conquest higher than War of Kings; in spite of its flaws, Conquest felt like more of a "sequel" to what happened in Annihilation. War of Kings is just an X-Men/Inhumans story, with all the cosmic characters we've been following over the last couple years just playing bit parts.

 

[Dread]

While I do disagree in terms of personal taste over WAR OF KINGS, I do understand that sort of complaint. To play Devil's Advocate, many of the cosmic characters from ANNIHILATION and CONQUEST are in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY now, a monthly ongoing that didn't exist before the end of CONQUEST (and was in fact sparked by that event; to keep a force vigilant against threats to the universe after "Great Ultron" sucker-punched everyone, especially the Kree). NOVA of course has been going strong for over two years now, where he appears monthly.

For me, it seemed natural and organic to finally bring in the Shi'ar stuff to the ANNIHILATION-esque landscape of Cosmic Marvel. They're a big empire; arguably the biggest power left in the known universe with the Skrulls nearly extinct and the Kree severely weakened. It made little sense to restrict them into a pocket of the X-World when they should have something to do with the rest of the organic universe. Something like the Shi'ar empire being usurped by Vulcan, who is a virtually insane omega class mutant who could probably slap Magneto around on a good day, shouldn't be ignored. If anything, involving the Starjammer storyline from the last few years of the X-Books under Brubaker was inevitable. I remember when people were imagining Vulcan as a good event villain just as CONQUEST was starting. And he has been a good villain. Ironically, the second out of three who originated from Earth. Kind of funny how that sort of thing works. Us Terrans are responsible for a damn lot of chaos.

Now, I will grant you that some players in the current event may seem more "shoehorned" than the Shi'ar. The Inhumans had ties to the Kree but they really are coming in out of nowhere. And of course there is Darkhawk, receiving massive retcons and revisions to be inserted into the story (and Marvel space) proper. I could argue, though, that a lot of the space events of the 90's had many more "shoe-horned" characters. I mean, no matter what was going on with Thanos or Goddess or Magus against the Infinity Watch cast, you always had to have, say, Spider-Man or Wolverine or most of the popular Earth heroes showing up. At least these space events haven't gone that far. Even the one faint tie-in, SKAAR (who is a HULK spin off) seems completely random and unimportant.

I believe that the decision to insert the X-Men and Inhumans into the event was likely done not only to have a more cohesive universe but to probably bring in the, say, 30k or so people who were buying Starjammers or Inhumans mini's into the rest of the Marvel space readership, which is usually locked steady at around 26-28k a month. Considering WAR OF KINGS #1 saw two prints and a near 60k debut (and only fell about 15% in the second issue, which is an average drop; I've seen second issue drops of over 20% for some mini's, even higher selling ones), that has at least been successful.

If anything, my complaint is that the story is ignoring some of those X-Men roots; by all rights, this is Havok's story, and Havok's enemy. Vulcan killed his father, pummeled his brother and his teammates a bit, and personally tortured him and Polaris for months. Instead, the price of making Vulcan a grander threat and part of the Marvel space line is that Havok and arguably most of the X-characters who have been fighting Vulcan for some two years are being pushed to the side so that Gladiator and Black Bolt can basically steal their thunder.

Also, to be fair, alongside Crystal and Gladiator, Ronan the Accuser has actually gotten a bit of focus here. No, he's not smashing people in the face with his hammer, but Abnett & Lanning are working with him in subtle ways where he usually doesn't work, but has been. For instance, that he probably was the more romantically interested party in the arranged marriage than Crystal, but usually has abandoned that when he "sees" that she is supposedly not interested and only fulfilling royal obligations. He is willing to concede power to try to advance the Kree to be stronger than they were. And, indirectly, he is helping Crystal be a better queen figure than Medusa by supporting her emotionally. By issue #5, he's apparently recovered according to some preview art, so he may get to spank a few of the Imperial Guard members who laid him up (it took four of them to do so).

To me, while the newer stars of WAR OF KINGS may not be the same cast of cosmic characters (Nova isn't going to save the day, and neither are Phyla or Warlock), I do think that the leads have a bit more charisma than Warlock and Phyla did. They struggled to carry CONQUEST and by and large went though token Squire Enix RPG chapters. Part of me also likes that Marvel space isn't as predictable that the same few heroes ALWAYS win, unlike, say, many Earth based stuff where you KNOW Hulk will overcome, or Iron Man or whoever (at least back when heroes used to win). You never know who will step up in Marvel space sometimes.