Squadron Supreme #6
Written By: James Robinson
Pencils By: Leonard Kirk & Paolo Villanelli
Inks By: Paul Neary
Colors By: Frank Martin
Letters By: Travis Lanham
Release Date: 04/27/16
The Squadron Supreme are each the sole survivor of an Earth destroyed in an incursion. The team blamed the Illuminati (secret team of Marvel heroes not the current villain team) and already made Namor pay the ultimate price for his role in it. The team is made up of Hyperion (Avengers), Nighthawk (Supreme Power), Doctor Spectrum (The Great Society), Blur (DP7) and the newly added Thundra of Weirdworld after Power Princess was revealed to be Warrior Woman. This team doesn’t avenge they are proactive and take out any and all threats to Earth, so don’t stand in their way!
Plot:
The Squadron Supreme search for clues as to why all of these alien races have been popping up on Earth and what if any threat they may pose. Nighthawk sends Doctor Spectrum in search for information but it leads her to a personal journey and Black Bolt. Meanwhile Nighthawk meets Nighthawk of the main Marvel Universe.
Story:
This issue for the most part really tries to focus on Doctor Spectrum. She is still trying to deal with the destruction of her world, even with Namor punished for his part in its destruction she still seeks closure and one part of it is finding out why did Black Bolt the king of the Inhumans save her from the destruction of her planet? This is set up here as her driving force, which I think gives her some more depth to her character.
The rest of the story seemed a bit forced updates or retreading for me. We find out that Hyperion is on the open road as a trucker, and that Thundra is joining the team to fill the void of Power Princess/Warrior Woman when she betrayed them on Weirdworld. I felt like retreading that just took me out of the Doctor Spectrum story I was really getting into before those interruptions.
The ending though really did cinch me on bringing me back for the next issue. Robinson did something he is good at and that is using history, and he did that here by bringing in Thomas (Tom) Raymond A.K.A. Toro the original Human Torch’s sidekick who recently discovered he was an Inhuman. Tom is with Black Bolt and I am curious to see what Robinson will do with Toro, I really hope to see more of him.
Art:
The art here has two pencilers and you can tell. There are times when the art is crisp, clean and tight and then there are times where it lacked details. That inconsistency with the art really throws me out of the story at times. I would have also liked a more rich display in the underwater scenes, they really could have showcased the wonders of the ocean and make things pop here and they chose to play with minimum details to the background here.
But like I said there were times when the art flowed very nicely and was crisp and clean. The last page in particular really stood out to me as it had a very animated feel to the art. I loved the mystique the are created during Toro’s introduction also it really added some flare to the reveal of who he is and of Black Bolt as well.
Verdict:
Overall I did enjoy the issue but I think it lacked cohesion and that is something that can be easily fixed by focusing on one main story instead of the few ones here, and by having just one artist with a clear vision of the visual story. I am really looking forward to Doctor Spectrum’s story and in seeing how Toro and Black Bolt factor into this book.