“Eat Your Hearts Out”
Creative Staff:
Story: Leah Williams
Art: Carlos Gomez
Colors: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
What They Say:
Vampires, Violence And Vengeance! Does it count as killing a man when the man in question is already undead? This problem is one the lovely ladies of bombs and blades are going to need to wrestle with as they brutally separate bloodsuckers’ heads from their bodies! Just when you thought the night couldn’t get more bonkers…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I went into this series pretty wary since the last series I read in full was the original Exiles series so I’m woefully out of date – though my X-Men reading began back in the early 1980s. This series has Leah Williams writing it and it’s an excellent and fun work right out of the gate, even if I’m just a bit leery of the setting for it in the back half. She’s got the dialogue, and one-liners down well, and a sense of character and playfulness that reminds me of what I loved from part of the 1980s era. Carlos Gomez puts in some fantastic pages throughout with a great sense of layout and strong flow for it all, especially with as much action as there is. I love the character designs and interpretation here and just everything with how Bryan Valenza colors it, giving Gomez’s work even more vibrancy.
As we get to the halfway mark of its run, I believe, this issue continues on with the action and sauciness that has defined it in a good way. I still dislike that it’s being framed as the leads talking about it in a kind of judgment meeting but that’s just me as it removes a little of the dramatic tension, even if you know none of the characters will be really harmed. So what we get here is some amusing material during that segment because some of those listening really try to avoid some of the saucy language used, such as the various comments on just how peachy Dazzler’s ass is or the juices of Boom Boom. But there’s also some story bits that just come across awkwardly, such as how they reveal that they’re in space many pages before we see it in the story. It kind of undercuts things for me in a way.
The bulk of the book is action, however, as the team is doing their best to survive the doppelgangers that have been going at them in the cage that they’re in as well as the couple of vampires that are in the mix. It’s fun and silly while also taking some serious turns are realizing that there are a lot more being held below and some from Otherworld in Alex’s grip elsewhere. There’s a lot of back and forth until they figure out how to blow the enchantment so they can make their way about and it’s amusing to see Alex realize how much trouble he’s in. There are plenty of powers and poses in play as the team does their thing but with the framing drawing things back as well, when we get the reveal of them being in space and part of a request of the Collector, it ups the scale just a bit more. But again, we know everyone survives because of the framing so the whole “toss the unwanted ones out the door” doesn’t have much weight to it.
In Summary:
This series continues to be fun since it’s working a bit “blue” compared to a lot of other titles and I’m glad that it’s both a conscious decision and that people are warned that it’s there in case it’s not their thing. Some of it has always been there to a degree but by leaning into it you’re going after something more specific. And that’s attractive to me since it’s not the norm and I’m glad it has a space. I still wouldn’t want it in a lot more books overall but ones where it definitely works. The team continues to be the real draw and allowing them to speak as they do helps to humanize them a lot more as they deal with a stressful situation in the moment as well as the debriefing and judgment piece. It’s fun, looks great, and has a solid flow to keep it quite engaging.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: November 30th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
