At the movies, summer equals sequels, and comics can be equally susceptible. In 2006, Marvel published Civil War, a seven-part series that pitted Captain America against Iron Man in a ruinous ruckus over the government registration of superheroes (a scenario that might sound familiar to those who saw a certain Hollywood blockbuster earlier this year).
A decade on and we’re halfway through Civil War II, another ideological ding-dong between the good guys, except this time it’s Iron Man versus Captain Marvel (who’ll get her own solo movie starring Brie Larson in 2019). The crux is a nervy dude called Ulysses who has dire – and apparently accurate – visions of the future. Military-trained Captain Marvel wants to use these apocalyptic tip-offs to get some retaliation in first, Minority Report-style. But futurist rake Tony Stark believes you shouldn’t be punished for something you haven’t done yet.
To make sure everyone is clear that this is a hugely important storyline that will reverberate throughout the Marvel universe for aeons to come, there has just been a major second-act escalation: the brutal assassination of puny Bruce Banner by ace archer Hawkeye, nominally to prevent Banner’s alter-ego the Hulk going on a Ulysses-predicted rampage.
It might seem like a bizarre move to rub out the big green guy when Mark Ruffalo has started tweeting mo-cap process videos from the set of Thor: Ragnarok, but killing off major characters is a tried-and-trusted method of grabbing the attention of comics fans (or at least getting them volcanically riled, which usually generates publicity). In this medium, death is also a very fluid concept – Captain America and Superman both got over it – so even if he’ll miss Civil War II’s epic climax, rest assured the Hulk will return, angrier than ever.
Plus-size superheroes are still a rarity in mainstream comics: most characters are such perfect physical specimens they should be called Captain Crossfit or Absman. But over in the Valiant universe, there’s a larger-than-life crimefighter breaking big. Faith Herbert AKA Zephyr is a “psiot”, able to telepathically control an invisible forcefield to propel herself up or smack bad guys down.
Though she first appeared as part of a team of heroes back in 1992, it’s taken until 2016 for Zephyr to really fly solo. After the success of a short miniseries earlier this year, Valiant has rapidly relaunched Faith as an ongoing monthly comic by writer Jody Houser and artist Pere Pérez. Like Superman, Faith keeps up a secret identity as a reporter, although she’s writing listicles for a pop-culture portal rather than the Daily Planet. In July’s new first issue, Faith also discovers her Kryptonite when she gets zapped with a flashgun that cancels out her psiot powers.
Combined with dating woes and clickbait work pressures, it feels like a bumpy start for the funny, good-hearted Faith although things will soon be looking up. Valiant recently announced that the crimefighter will team up with another character who broke through in the 1990s, committed to broadening the representation of women: Hillary Rodham Clinton. Issue five’s Faith/presumptive Democratic presidential nominee teamup is scheduled for November, the week before the election; Valiant should probably send Donald Trump some free copies so he can rabidly tweet about it.
She might sound like Fungus The Bogeyman’s new teen sidekick but Snotgirl – AKA Lottie Person – has an even tougher gig: maintaining her pristine reputation as an LA fashion tastemaker while coping with allergies that can instantly set her nose streaming with ectoplasmic goo. The gulf between Lottie’s carefully mediated online brand – all green hair, cold-brew coffee and #squad of internet-famous gal pals – and the harsher, lonelier reality is beginning to chip away at her sense of self, even before she starts popping Congestex, an experimental drug with potentially dangerous side effects.
Published by Image, Snotgirl is a dark comedy draped in bright colours, written by Bryan Lee O’Malley and featuring suitably chic, stylised art by Leslie Hung. The two creators apparently bonded over the joys of Carly Rae Jepsen and a shared suffering from lifelong allergies, and while O’Malley is famous as the one-man brand behind hugely successful graphic novels (notably the Scott Pilgrim series, later adapted into a hyperactive Edgar Wright movie), he seems more than capable of crafting a compelling story in monthly instalments. As well as being stuffed with snarky jokes about vacuous LA culture, Snotgirl’s first issue also wraps up on a hell of a cliffhanger.
