Happy End of 2019 everybody! Christmas is over, the New Year is right around the corner, and I have absolutely no comics to review this week! Almost! All the major comic companies dropped all of their books last week, leaving only a handful released this past week — due to the Christmas holiday.

So Comic Book of the Week goes to Incoming #1 because it was the only comic I brought and read this week! It’s the kick-off comic for Marvel’s next big event and the new year’s stories. It’s fine.

For reals this time, guys, this new hero is gonna be the Next Big Thing!

Meanwhile, I did not read the first issues of Doctor Strange and Spider-Ham. I probably could have, but I’m not particularly interested. And sometimes I’d like to save some money, especially after the giant pile of reviews last week! So somebody else can let me know if those comics were any good.

Comic Reviews: Incoming #1.

Incoming #1

Incoming #1
Creators: Pretty much everybody working at Marvel
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham

I largely have nothing to do with Marvel’s Big Events these days. They just don’t interest me. And I can’t say Incoming or Empyre is very interesting either.

There’s a locked room murder mystery and the only clue is a strange numerical sequence, the word “2faced” and a Kree Hala star. The comic then checks in on pretty much every major Marvel character currently active, and either has them look over the clues and figure out a little bit, or we just check in to see how their current storylines and status quos are going. Eventually they figure out that the code means “Beware the trees” and Reed Richards figures out that the victim is former Kree soldier Bel-Dann from a comic back in the 1980s. They then track down Bel-Dann’s Skrull partner/frenemy Raksor, who is on Earth activating an “asset”. The heroes suspect Raksor of the murder, but he explains that he and Bel-Dann were working together…and then Rakos is killed when a tree erupts inside of him.

Meanwhile, far out into space, Hulkling (who we saw earlier in the issue sharing some time with Wiccan, only to get called away on some secret mission) assumes the throne for a joint Skrull/Kree empire called The Alliance! And their first priority is to invade Earth!

Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.

A joint Kree/Skrull empire led by Hulkling claiming his destiny in order to invade Earth sounds pretty cool. At the very least, from the preview images we saw, I was worried that Marvel was going to kill either Hulkling or Wiccan and they would be the victim in the murder mystery. I’m glad Marvel didn’t go that route. But man, they sure went a pretty extraneous route on this murder mystery. So a new character, Masked Raider, discovers the body, and he goes to great lengths to attract a nearby Daredevil’s attention to come check it out. And Daredevil decides to ask Jessica Jones to investigate because he doesn’t think the police have a chance. And then when Jessica sees one little clue, she apparently drives six hours in the middle of the night to visit Captain Marvel to run it by her. And then that snowballs to include Blue Marvel, Jimmy Woo, Night Thrasher, Arno Stark, a random check-in with the Champions, Reed Richards and more I’m forgetting, all for what seems like a pretty standard murder. Granted, it’s not a pretty standard murder in the end, but Marvel really stretched themselves thin making sure they paid a visit to all major players with big, marketable storylines coming up.

It is Night Thrasher’s time to shine!

Still, all those visits are fun and the artwork is good. I can’t say anything really got me excited for what’s to come or has me chomping at the bit for new comics. But it’s still a nice tour of the current Marvel Universe and where everybody’s at. It’s also a stark reminder at how little I have to do these days with the big company crossover events. I feel like I read a lot of comics, but they’re mostly fringe comics. Wonder Twins at DC has nothing to do with the crazy Scott Snyder or Geoff Johns Justice League or Doomsday Clock stuff that’s running the company. And I’m not reading Avengers or Venom or Captain Marvel at Marvel, choosing instead to stick with contained stuff like Runaways. But that’s on me, obviously. This preview/teaser comic doesn’t really entice me to try out the other comics coming up, but perhaps I’ll find the time and the interest somewhere.

Until then, there’s not much to recommend about this individual comic. It’s fine.

TL;DR: Just a series of solid teasers with a slightly interesting thread to keep them all connected. Nothing really grabbed me as very interesting going forward, but that’s on me.

The comics I review in my Hench-Sized reviews are just the usual comics I pick up from my local shop any given week, along with a few impulse buys I might try on a whim. So if there are any comics or series you’d like me to review each week, let me know in the comments!

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