Hello, and welcome to Saturday Morning Panels, Multiversity’s latest column! It’s a very simple concept: since none of us are up to watching Saturday morning cartoons anymore, we are instead going to share with you our favorite panels from the week before. It’s a bit like Comics Should Be Cheap, except with more pictures and less reading.
We encourage you to play along at home and let us know what your favorite moments of the week were in the comment section! In the meantime, our picks —
Matthew’s Pick: “Young Avengers” #1
This Sunday, Game of Thrones season 3 begins. Having read all of the books and having completed my re-watch of all the episodes that we already have, I am ready to sit down and relive all my favorite moments of abject horror as catered to me by George RR Martin’s sick and twisted sense of imagination. So, that said, I was very excited to see a little Game of Thrones nod in “Young Avengers” from Kieron Gillen, who had said during an interview with us about “Journey into Mystery” that if he’d read all of the books before writing that series it might have been more influenced by it. Here’s hoping other little GoT aspects make their way into the series.
Scottish David’s Pick: “East of West” #1
Hickman got some jokes. This is probably the thing I love most about this book: the Horsemen as kids just telling jokes in an apocalyptic wasteland. What a great book.
Michelle’s Pick: “Planetoid” #5
You don’t need to read “Planetoid” (although you really should!) to get what this panel’s saying. Shit’s about to get real. And check out those diagonal vectors! In a a book full of wonderful stand-alone panels, it’s energetic compositions like these that really bring the storytelling to the next level.
James’ Pick: “East of West” #1
Hickman’s dialogue, especially is always incredible, but East of West really struck me. Possibly because I accidently read Death’s voice in my head as Calvin Candie from Django.
Alaskan David’s Pick: “Fury Max” #10
Fury Max is a perpetually underrated book because Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov are working together with an unbelievable amount of synchronicity. Not only that, but they get the character of Fury and what’s going on in his world, and I love that even potential enemies like Barracuda have an underlying respect for him. This panel really brilliantly shows that, as it’s the new hotness going after the old (and not so busted). Really excellent stuff, and I’m perpetually floored by their work. Note: this book had like five panels for contenders for this spot, but this one stood out the most.
Vince’s Pick: “East of West” #1
I love Jonathan Hickman comic books. I’ve never met one that I haven’t enjoyed. While I was reading through his latest, “East of West”, there was panel after panel that I thought would be perfect for this column. I thought long and hard about picking the towering white monolith that is the “White House” of the future. I thought about picking the climax of the sequence that took place within, for all its horrific violence. In the end, this panel was my favorite because it is such a welcome hallmark of a Jonathan Hickman book: the deciders. Hickman loves writing about the men that shape the future from behind the scenes, whether it’s Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, and co in “The Manhattan Projects”, The Illuminati in “New Avengers” or Leonardo da Vinci and the “Brotherhood of the Shield” in Marvel’s “S.H.I.E.L.D.” Hickman seems fascinated by the machinations of the great men of history, fictional or not, and I’m equally fascinated while reading them. Here in “East of West” #1 we see America’s identity represented by a handful of great deciders signing the documents that would bring stability to the fictional “Seven Nations of America” that Hickman will undoubtedly be exploring going forward.
Zac’s Pick: “FF” #5
There were a dozen moments I loved in this week’s issue of FF, but the page with Old John freaking out in the clothing store is the best. The panel with the woman putting out the guy’s beard fire with a copy of Fantastic Four #4 wins the issue, but the entire page is golden, especially the reporter in the bottom corner. Yowza!
