Review: Incoming! #1 Faces The Future Of The Marvel Universe
by Tony Thornley
As 2019 ends, a new future looms for the Marvel Universe. Incoming! follows the pattern of hinting at stories and events to come. This bucks the trend of those stories through, telling a murder mystery to go with it.
This issue is written by Al Ewing, Chip Zdarsky, Kelly Thompson, Jason Aaron, Matthew Rosenberg, Greg Pak, Eve Ewing, Ed Brisson, Donny Cates, Saladin Ahmed, Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard and Dan Slott. It was drawn by Humberto Ramos, Jorge Fornes, Mattia De Iulis, Carmen Carnero, Andrea Sorrentino, RB Silva, Annie Wu, Kim Jacinto, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Aaron Kuder, Ryan Stegman, Javier Garron, Jim Cheung, Luciano Vecchio, Francesco Manna, Carlo Pacheco, and Rafael Fonteriz. The color art is by Edgar Delgado, Jordie Bellaire, Rachelle Rosenberg, Jay David Ramos, Israel Silva, Triona Farrell, Espen Grundetjern, Dono Sanchez-Almara, Michael Garland, David Curiel, Romulo Fajardo Jr, Marte Gracia, and Morry Hollowell, with letters by Travis Lanham.
The Masked Raider has discovered a body in a locked room. The investigation will encompass the entire Marvel Universe, with touching virtually every corner of the universe. The answers will shake the universe to the core, and leave the Earth facing the greatest extraterrestrial threat in its history.
Overall this is an incredibly enjoyable story. Just like any issue like this, some chapters are weaker than others but none are complete flops. The highlights are easily both of Thompson’s chapters- her takes on Jessica Jones and Carol Danvers are excellent with great art- and Ewing’s overarching exploration of the mystery at hand (ending in a set-up for this summer’s Empyre). Best of all, it’s rewarding for both longtime and new readers, serving as a decent entry point to what’s happening in the Marvel Universe.
The weaker chapters are the small handful in the middle of the story, but not because they were bad. About four or five were unconnected from the larger narrative, pulling the reader out of the story, and making the transition back into the mystery abrupt and jarring. The issue might have been better off removing and placing them in the individual series as “post credit” type scenes.
In the end though, it’s totally worth it. This is basically a complete graphic novel, setting up the entire Marvel Universe for the next year. Even better, it’s generally much more cohesive and enjoyable story than the unconnected series of trailers these past one-shots have been.
Incoming! #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
