Marvel’s new crossover event, Empyre, is finally here. We’ll take a look at what trouble the Avengers and the Fantastic Four have gotten themselves into this time in this new blog series, Empyrean Evaluations.
Empyre #1
Story: Al Ewing and Dan Slott
Art: Valerio Schiti
Colors: Marte Gracia
Letters: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel
Fantastic Family
It’s great to see the Fantastic Four being involved in big Marvel events again. Them and the X-Men getting some love in the past couple of years is one reason why I’m checking out more and more new monthly Marvel comics recently.
They kick off Empyre #1 with a little family squabble in the face of an alien armada, so you know, typical Fantastic Four stuff. It’s great.
They provide some light hearted banter to an otherwise serious situation. You’d expect this lightheartedness to be counterproductive to the seemingly dreadful alien invasion about to come down on a bunch of plant people, but it makes the whole event more engaging. Empyre somehow feels bigger because the Fantastic Four is right in the middle of it, cracking jokes in the face of danger. If that makes sense.
The Avengers on the other hand feel more like secondary players. They end up looking like chumps here, so I’m looking forward to how they recover from this blunder. They give us a couple of cool moments, though. That Ghost Quinjet splash is so metal.
Clobberin’ Time
While you can see the twist a mile away, the way it plays out is satisfying enough for you to still enjoy the story. The tension before everything goes to hell leading to the reveal in the final few pages was expertly built. It gives you a real feeling of out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire anxious anticipation.
Valerio Schiti’s art presents the epicness of it all really well. I’m just not a fan of how he draws Mr. Fantastic in some panels. Love everything else, just not into extra large head Reed.
IN CONCLUSION
We’re off to a good start with Empyre #1, guys. Good art, good humor, good flow of the story even though it’s too predictable. I really love the big event vibes we get from the action, the villain’s melodramatic announcement, and the Fantastic Four bantering in the face of imminent danger.
We’re going to save the ranking of Empyre in The List once the whole series is done. For now, this first issue gets a strong 4 stars.
Empyre #1 is available now wherever fine comic books are sold.
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