Queen in Black #1 Is a Great But Typical Start to a Marvel Event (Review)

Venom has undergone countless changes in the last decade. From the revelation that Marvel’s symbiotes were created as the ultimate weapons by the God of the Void, Knull, to Dylan and then Mary Jane Watson bonding with the once-villainous ooze, Venom has changed a whole lot. A huge swath of those changes, including MJ and Venom’s bond, Hela’s rise to become Queen in Black, and Knull embracing the light to become the hateful King in Bright, came about during Al Ewing’s now monumental, multi-year run heading the Venom brand. We’re in the final stages now, and everything that Ewing has introduced and teased is coming to a climactic head.

Queen in Black #1 is officially out and has kickstarted the final chapter in Ewing’s Venom saga, pitting MJ and Dylan against threats from all sides. Earth is caught in the middle of a war between Hela and Knull, both of whom plan to bring about the end of the world to fit their own goals. This first issue is a wonderfully packed comic that never feels bloated, giving each plot thread the chance to breathe and build towards something awesome. It’s exactly how a Marvel event should start, but at the same time, because of that, it’s also pretty trite and doesn’t feel special. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Pros	Cons
Giant cast that gives everyone their chance to shine	Reads like a generic “Earth is invaded” Marvel event
Incredible coloring that sells every small detail	Somewhat uncanny look for Venom, its main star
Awesome payoff to ongoing storylines	Surprisingly little focus on MJ and Venom

A Massive Cosmic Invasion that Covers Every Corner of the Universe

Hela and Knull’s invasions play off of every plot thread that’s been building in Venom’s comics and beyond. Hela has united the broken pieces of the once-united intergalactic alliances, converting each major race into a different group of symbiote soldiers. We see Skrulls, Chitauri, Kree, and just about every other major Marvel group of aliens bound to distinct types of symbiotes, united under a goddess of death that nobody sans Beta Ray Bill remembers, thanks to the events of Immortal Thor. MJ is the hero leading the charge, calling everyone together as the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men all unite to protect the world.

Everyone gets their chance to shine here, from Spider-Man and the Spider-Friends to Scarlet Witch and Vision blowing up a pyramid. Even Nova plays a pivotal role, and that’s always awesome to see. Every hero here is at their best, and despite so many characters getting the spotlight, nothing feels dismissed or overlooked. This is the ultimate showcase of how to leverage known personalities and relationships to focus on what’s important while giving fans exactly enough to feel that their favorites are present and impactful. It’s full of small but incredible character moments, like Beta Ray Bill’s speech and call for the Avengers to assemble, and the final page’s new enemy has me very excited.

The only problem here, which is still a big one, is that this reads like something we’ve all read before. This is Marvel’s heroes uniting to fight against a cosmic threat that threatens to destroy or enslave the world, battling an army of mooks while preparing for the final clash. It’s a phenomenal showcase of how to do this type of story, but the plot structure has been done a dozen times, especially in recent years. If you’ve read a Marvel event, you’ve read this issue before. Heck, if you’ve read King in Black, you’ve read a Venom event like this before. What’s on the page is very strong, but as of right now, it’s too familiar to wow me.

Beautiful Art that Captures the Symbiote’s Greatest Strength

The art for this initial issue was split between Iban Coello and Zé Carlos on pencils, with Guru-eFX on colors. The art is definitely clean all the way through, but the highlights for me are the fluidity and the small, liquid-like add-ons. Symbiotes are creatures made of ooze, which means they are more than capable of transforming into any shape or size, and this issue manages to keep that aspect in frontal focus. Every character is defined with special care put into the flowyness of their outfits, which helps differentiate symbiotes from normal clothes. My personal favorite aspect is the effects like the lightning strikes and webbing. They float around the panel, highlighting everything without ever taking focus away from the characters.

Guru-eFX’s colors need their praises sung to the heavens for this issue. Knull and Hela’s armies are totally white and black, respectively, but they never get lost in the background or look drab. Nearly every page has its own definite color scheme, from the blues of Beta Ray Bill’s lightning to the red highlights streaking across Hela and Scarlet Witch’s magic. My personal highlight is Nova’s bombastic yellow versus Knull’s white, which somehow makes both stand out and pop despite them being such bright colors with no contrast. The space warrior’s golden glow is phenomenal, and definitely worth the price of admission alone.

Queen in Black #1 is on sale now!

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