Queen in Black- Defenders of Light and Dark #1
Tandy’s seen some pretty remarkable stuff in her time...even for a New Yorker in the Marvel Universe. She’s got powers. She’s played superhero before. She’s been in haunted dimensions. Face rampaging monsters. What she’s up against at present is something altogether different. Thankfully, she doesn’t have to face it alone in Queen in Black: Defenders of Light and Dark #1. The writing team of Al Ewing and Tom Waltz follow the Queen In Black crossover event with a special group of heroes that are brought to page and panel by artist Zé Carlos and colorist Fer Sifuentes-Sujo.
Cable knew that they’d need heavy hitters, but the team that Tony Stark has assembled doesn’t exactly look like the usual group of heavy hitters. The thunder god gave him a few ideas of what he might be up against. Of course..the thunder god in question wasn’t Thor...it was Beta Ray Bill, so there’s some questioning whether or not he’s as knowledgable as one might expect. Still: there’s a specific group of powers needed to face the enemy: those who can cast light are joined by those heroes who can cast darkness. And they’re all being led by the thunder god that is Beta Ray Bill. They might not have worked together before, but the certainly seem to have the right power.
Ewing and Waltz have done a pretty good job of assembling a team that looks like it could be interesting. Finding people who aren't necessarily standard big named heroes to fight a major threat feels like it could do interesting things. Put a spotlight on characters normally get the kind of attention they deserve. They make it to the page in a relatively interesting way, even though it's not necessarily anything new in the entire story isn't. But it's fun nonetheless.
Carlos’ art brings both power and personality to the page. There is a sense of tension and intensity in the task that is set before this particular group of heroes. There's lots of ink on the page due to the fact that it's a very shadowy sort of a moment for everyone involved. Sifuentes-Sujos colors provide an impressive contrast to all of the darkness without compromising shadow. Organic motion and motion comes to the page in a rally edges of all the ominous power. Carlos does a really good job of rendering very thoughtful and expressive earthbound emotion on the page in a way that feels very tethered to reality. And that's kind of important given sheer weight and intensity of all of the power that's going to come into play.
It's a huge crossover event. Not every issue is going to be quite as powerful as every other issue. There's a lot of people involved in putting this thing together. It is nice to know, however, that be a creative demon. This particular issue has worked together in a way that really serves us a foundation for a lot of the rest of what's going to be going on.
