Defenders #2 by Al Ewing
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is exactly the kind of mind-blowing cosmic nonsense I want from a Defenders comic. We’re not exploring the origins of the universe here, instead Ewing and Rodrigues are taking us back far beyond that, to the universe before our own. The universe that gave birth to the world devourer, Galactus. But Galactus is just a baby here, and the Defenders face that most basic of time travel based moral quandaries: Do you kill the monster before he becomes the monster?
Of course, you don’t, that was never in doubt, but there’s a moment when you think the Surfer might. Which begs the question: If the Silver Surfer killed Galen before he became Galactus, then Galactus could never have turned him into the Silver Surfer, and he would never have travelled back in time to kill Galen…so it’s probably best all round that he didn’t do it.
There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on in this issue, with the revelation that the previous universe was purely science based, and so magic doesn’t really work there (which is a bit of an issue for the Sorcerer Supreme). But the world devourer of this universe, Omnimax, came from the previous universe, so magic does work on him. It’s all utterly nuts, but fantastic fun.
But if you think that visiting the previous universe was as crazy as this book was going to get, it’s got one last surprise left in store for you…
This is magnificently written and superbly illustrated. Defenders might just be my new favourite comic!
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Random Ramblings Of A Ragamuffin 