Marvel did not walk into New York Comic-Con 2019. They came in rushing the doors open as they kicked off Day 1 of NYCC 2019 by announcing the return of their ‘The End’ line of comic books. This is a line of comics we have not seen since ‘Spider-Girl: The End,’ which featured the Mayday Parker version of Spider-Girl.
Many characters like Iron Man, Hulk and the Fantastic Four got their own ‘The End’ comic books. Maybe the biggest ‘The End’ comic goes to ‘X-Men: The End’ trilogy mini-series.Now in 2020 it will be Captain America, Doctor Strange, Miles Morales, Venom, Captain Marvel, and Deadpool turn to have their “last adventure.” Let’s take a look at which ‘The End’ one-shots stood out and which did not.
CAPTAIN MARVEL: THE END
By far the least surprising of the latest set of ‘The End’ comics is the one-shot Captain Marvel is getting. Captain Marvel is by far the fastest rising star for Marvel, with only Black Panther competing with her. Seeing her as the lead character getting a ‘The End’ one-shot makes sense.
What makes ‘Captain Marvel: The End’ intriguing is that it will be written by current Captain Marvel writer, Kelly Thompson. Thompson’s run on Captain Marvel has thus far been solid. There have been some awkward moments but as a whole Thompson has shown she has a strong understanding of who Carol Danvers is as Captain Marvel.
Also, given how Carol has stepped up as Captain Marvel there are many directions this particular ‘The End’ one-shot can take. It could involve Carol’s role on Earth as an Avenger and working with government. Or Thompson could go into Carol’s greater role as a Green Lantern-like hero who patrols the entire galaxy. It is something that has been touched on here and there. Personally that is hopefully what we see explored in ‘Captain Marvel: The End’
DOCTOR STRANGE: THE END
Similar to ‘Captain Marvel: The End,’ Leah Williams has a chance to explore the impact Doctor Strange has on the magic corner of the Marvel Universe with the ‘Doctor Strange: The End’ one-shot. Doctor Strange has been such an important part of the Marvel Universe. Specifically, when it comes to the magic corner. He has defined the direction of how Marvel has dealt with all things magic.
The solicitation for ‘Doctor Strange: The End’ indicates that Strange’s “last adventure” will be to re-introduce magic to a cyberpunk-like future. This teased set-up could play into the legacy Doctor Strange leaves behind. Particularly, will Doctor Strange be remembered by future generations and if he can find a worthy successor to the Sorcerer Supreme title.
MILES MORALES: THE END
Whereas Captain Marvel deals with the cosmic corner and Doctor Strange deals with the magic corner, the ‘Miles Morales: The End’ one-shot can balance those two other comics by tackling the street-level future of the Marvel Universe. I’m very interested to see how Saladin Ahmed tackles Miles Morales “last adventure” since the character is still relatively young.
Miles is a character that fans know as a teenager. We’ve never seen an older Miles explored in depth. So Ahmed has a unique opportunity to define what kind of person Miles is in at an older age.
What makes this even more intriguing is that the solicitation for this ‘The End’ one-shot specifically calls Miles as a former Spider-Man. Does that mean that Miles took on a different Spider-Man inspired name when he got older when he upgraded his black-and-red costume? Or is there something that made Miles give up being Spider-Man until this “last adventure” triggered him to act? Those questions along with how Ahmed writes an older Miles makes this another one-shot to be very interested in.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE END
To be honest, the one-shot from this group that I’m least interested in is ‘Captain America: The End.’ If this one-shot was written by Ed Brubaker it would be a different story. Because when it comes to ‘The End’ comic I expect the writer who defines that character to write the story. And when it comes to Captain America it has been Brubaker who defined the character. I understand there are likely business reasons for this but it would’ve been incredible to see Brubaker return for ‘Captain America: The End.’
That is not to see it is not cool to see Erik Larson writing Captain America. Larson is a big name in the industry who will drive fans to buy ‘Captain America: The End’ because his name is on the cover. I’m just not one of them.
‘Captain America: The End’ emphasizing a post-apocalyptic setting for the story also does nothing to drive interest in this one-shot. That is a setting done so many times and it just does not seem like the proper setting for Captain America’s final adventure. It sounds more like inserting Captain America in a trendy setting.
VENOM: THE END
Venom’s rise to not only being one of Marve’s most popular characters but a top selling series has been impressive to watch. So it isn’t surprising given the character’s popularity that Venom is also getting a ‘The End’ one-shot. ‘Venom: The End’ is likely to be the highest selling of these one-shots given the sales numbers the Venom ongoing series and Absolute Carnage event. Personally this is the one I have the least to talk about since I’m not a huge Venom fan so it will definitely be one of ‘The End’ one-shots I will pass on. Though I do hope it is good for fans of Venom.
DEADPOOL: THE END
When it comes to ‘Deadpool: The End’ it is a one-shot I am purely picking up because Joe Kelly is writing the comic. I have been a big fan of Kelly’s work on Amazing Spider-Man, Deadpool and Deadpool/Spider-Man have all been fun rides. Writing Deadpool’s “final adventure” is a fitting thing for Kelly to do.
The choice of Deadpool for this new set of ‘The End’ one-shots also gives Kelly and Marvel to have at least one of these comics to be more lighthearted. All the other ‘The End’ one-shots look to go down a serious direction. Which will help Deadpool to stand out even further and possibly stand out as the best among ‘The End’ one-shot.
SOURCE: Newsarama
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