Wasp

New for Patrons: Guide to Wasp, Janet van Dyne

January 30, 2023 by krisis

My newest guide for Patreon supporters of Crushing Krisis is for one of the longest-running women of Marvel. In fact, while researching this guide I realized she may be the first Silver Age female Marvel hero to merit her own series of solo anthology stories! She’s also the first woman with a lengthy stint as a team leader at Marvel. All of that makes it absolutely wild that she has never had her own solo series until this month!!! Find all of those Marvel milestone moments in my brand new Guide to Wasp, Janet van Dyne!

Guide to Wasp, Janet van Dyne
This guide is now available to the public thanks to the astonishing support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis!

I won’t lie – getting this Guide to Wasp done was a battle, even though I got a very early start on it!

That’s because Janet van Dyne has appeared in a staggering 1,296 Marvel comics as of this month, which includes 1,295 comics that were not her own comic.

Building a guide for a character who has mostly appeared in their own series is always more straight-forward than building one for a perennial team member and guest star – even if that character has many series like Wolverine. That’s because their series established their prevailing narrative. Even if Wolverine made three times as many guest appearances in a period compared to his number of solo issues, it will be the solo issues that establish his character arc at that time.

Janet van Dyne has never had that privilege. For a character who is about to celebrate her 60th anniversary, her major character moments are relatively few and far between. [Read more…] about New for Patrons: Guide to Wasp, Janet van Dyne

Unstoppable Wasp, Nadia van Dyne – Definitive Collecting Guide and Reading Order

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and reading order for Marvel’s Unstoppable Wasp – Nadia van Dyne AKA Nadia Pym – in omnibus, hardcover, trade paperback, and digital comics. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated December 2024 with titles scheduled for release through February 2024.

The Unstoppable Wasp seemed like the wrong character at the wrong time for Marvel, but she turned into one of their best and most nuanced new heroes – and one of their best all-ages 616 characters of all time.

Nadia van Dyne (AKA Nadia Pym) made her first appearance with the Avengers on the brink of Marvel’s Civil War II. It was a disorganized time in the Marvel Universe that was about to become even more divisive – both for characters and fans. That’s because Marvel was focusing hard on a new generation of “Legacy” heroes like Sam Wilson as Captain America, Jane Foster as Thor, Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel, and many, many more.

Nadia was an odd addition to this list. First, because Wasp isn’t nearly as popular as the iconic original heroes of those other legacy characters. Second, because the original Wasp – Janet van Dyne – was active at that moment on another Avengers team in another title. Third, because Hank Pym had recently merged with Ultron in that other Avengers title, so Nadia wasn’t even interacting with him.

And, most-importantly, because Nadia was not the Wasp we had just met in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Ant-Man.

That was Hope van Dyne, who existed in several alternate universe, but never in 616. Nadia was not a re-named young version of the MCU’s Hope. Janet wasn’t her biological mother, and she was like half-Wasp half-Black-Widow due to her training in Russia’s Red Room.

At first it felt like there was no point to Nadia’s existence. She stuck with the adult Avengers after Civil War II rather than join the teen Champions, but the choice didn’t seem to make sense.

Then, Jeremy Whitley came along to launch Unstoppable Wasp. Whitley had years of experience writing YA comics, including the delightful Princeless for Action Lab, and was paired with expressive artist Elsa Charretier.

Together, they found a place for Nadia. She simply wasn’t at her best as a brainy young Avenger. Instead, she was leader and a connector meant to bring together the young women geniuses of the Marvel Universe into her G.I.R.L. labs – Geniuses In action Research Labs. The result was a delightful comic that not only invited a slew of new young women, but also interviewed real life lady scientists in every issue! Plus, it highlighted the narrative power of Mockingbird and Janet van Dyne, oft relegated to being supporting characters or love interests instead of mentors.

Nadia’s first series was short-lived, but as she got pulled into the dour Secret Empire and The Champions on the other side of it her fandom snowballed as readers discovered her via trade paperback collections. As it turns out, kids who love comics about scientists aren’t major Wednesday Warriors. As a result, Whitley returned with Gurihiru, a pair of artists revered by fans for their clean-lined animated style on books like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Power Pack, and The Unbelievable Gwenpool

Whitley and Gurihiru delivered another smashing series. Not only was every issue enjoyable, but it tackled tricky topics like mental illness and disability – all without losing the pure joy of Nadia’s character.

In the wake of her two series, Nadia is occasionally a member of The Champions, sometimes a sidekick to Scott Lang or Janet van Dyne, and often a scientist-on-call for Kamala Khan. Wherever she turns up, expect mad science, optimism, and G.I.R.L. Power!

New for Patrons: Guide to Unstoppable Wasp, Nadia van Dyne

January 24, 2023 by krisis

My newest guide for all Patreon supporters of Crushing Krisis is for one of Marvel’s newest characters to hold down her own solo title – two of them, in fact! In my humble opinion, hers are the finest all-ages comics Marvel has produced in their main 616 continuity in the past decade and I absolutely treasure the memories of reading them for the first time with my daughter. She’s not quite the same as her MCU sibling, nor is she quite the hero you might expect her to be. It’s my brand new Guide to Unstoppable Wasp, Nadia van Dyne!

Guide to Unstoppable Wasp, Nadia van Dyne
This guide is now available to the public thanks to the unstoppable support of Patrons of Crushing Krisis!

Nadia van Dyne was one of many Legacy characters introduced to take up classic heroic mantles in All-New All-Different Marvel in 2016.

At the time, it was obvious that Marvel’s editors wanted to replace the entire Avengers starting line-up with newer versions, even if they weren’t currently Avengers- Sam Wilson as Cap, Jane Foster as Thor, Riri Williams as Ironheart, Scott Lang as Ant-Man, and Amadeus Cho as Hulk (plus Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales as Spider-Man, and Sam Alexander as Nova, for good measure).

There’s only one founding Avenger missing from that line-up – The Wasp!

The tricky thing about that plan is that Marvel had brought back the original Wasp, Janet van Dyne, in the pages of Uncanny Avengers just as they had finished sweeping aside Steve Rogers, Odinson, Tony Stark, Hank Pym, and Bruce Banner to make way for their new cast of Legacy Heroes.

Oh, and one more complication: Marvel had just introduced a Wasp in the MCU, but she was Hank Pym’s & Janet van Dyne’s grown-up daughter. They couldn’t replicate that in the comics… could they?

Back Issue Review: Lumberjanes, DC Comics Titans, & Unstoppable Wasp

February 18, 2018 by krisis

I haven’t been doing much back-issue reading this week, which means this Back Issue Review isn’t as sprawling as its been in past weeks.

I did manage to knock out four volumes worth of youthful titles. None of the were major standouts, but they all presented nuanced looks at the meaning of friendship and identity.

Lumberjanes (2014) #25-28(AKA Vol. 7 – A Bird’s-Eye View), Boom! Entertainment, Inc
Titans (2016) Rebirth & #1-6 (AKA Vol. 1 – The Return of Wally West), DC Comics
Titans (2016) #7-10 & Annual 1 (AKA Vol. 2 – Made In Manhattan), DC Comics
Titans (2016) #12-18 (AKA Vol. 3 – A Judas Among Us), DC Comics
The Unstoppable Wasp #1-4 (AKA Vol. 1 – Unstoppable), Marvel Comics

Marvel introduced a black female Iron Man – is that a good thing? (Yes.)

July 6, 2016 by krisis

Today, Marvel and writer Brian Bendis broke the news via Time Magazine that at the end of the currently-running event “Civil War II” the mantle of Iron Man will be taken over by a 15-year old black MIT student named Riri Williams

(This IIM - 2016 - promo is a major shocker, because the vast majority of fans assumed Riri’s introduction in the pages of Invincible Iron Man (visit the guide) – where she was reverse-engineering Tony Stark’s armor – was a set-up for her to take over the mantle of War Machine. Rhodey has become unavailable to carry that title due to the events of Civil War.)

Riri Williams as Iron Man is a very good thing. We do not have enough female heroes or heroes of color, and to see a that in a character who is both as she takes over the mantle of ostensibly Marvel’s most popular single hero outside of Spider-Man is a huge, visible step not only for Marvel comic readers, but for their film fans who this news will surely reach. To have Williams also be a female super-scientist when Marvel generally boasts only a handful is even more wonderful.

(The most prominent female geniuses of Marvel are Kitty Pryde, who is frequently shown to be nearly as genius as Beast; Valeria Richards, whose preternatural intelligence is partially attributed to super powers; the new Moon Girl; and Mockingbird, an oft-forgotten PhD) .

So Riri Williams as Iron Man is a good thing, right?

On the face of it, yes. Inclusion means representation. I love reading books about heroes that are women, and so does my daughter – also a girl of color.

However, there are some aspects of this character choice that have given some fans and critics pause, which I’d like to discuss here – three in particular. I’m very interested in your input. (Edited to add: Here is a post with similar critique from black writer Son of Baldwin, Here is another from black female nerd BlerdGurl.)

1. Minority legacy heroes are only useful until the original makes their return; then their marginalization can be worse than the average minority hero.

“Legacy Heroes” is a term applied to heroes that are the replacement or junior version to their original heroes. They are sometimes used by creators as an opportunity to change the gender or race of the character bearing the main mantle.. The easiest examples to give are from DC comics (Superboy, Batgirl, Wondergirl, etc), because Marvel simply isn’t known for this practice outside the past few years.

Let’s stick with Marvel, for the moment. For a brief time in the 1980s, Tony Stark could not serve as Iron Man and Rhodey Rhodes took over the title. Rhodey is the best possible example of a Legacy Hero – he was a dynamic, well-developed character long before he became Iron Man, and that means that he was able to continue to be featured even when Tony Stark returned.

Ms-Marvel - 2014 - 0004 As War Machine, he’s lead his own title on many occasions (though they are usually short-lived) and he’s and been a significant character in both comics and now films (though he’s frequently sacrificed as a narrative reason to make Stark feel bad, as has happened twice this year alone).

His time as a Legacy Hero made him more visible, but after being Iron Man he didn’t stay an A-level hero. The white guy bumped him.

Another terrific example is the relatively new Ms. Marvel, the Pakastani-American Kamala Khan (visit the guide). Kamala is a wonderful analog to the original Spider-Man as a new, unsure hero, and Carol Danvers is very unlikely to ever retake her “Ms.” hero mantle now that she is officially Captain Marvel.

Her books sell ridiculous amounts of copies and have been nominated for Eisners. She’s now an Avenger. Things are going well … but we’re only in year two.

There are examples that don’t go as well. At the end of the comics version of the original Civil War, Captain America appears to die, and Bucky takes over the mantle as Cap (visit the guide). His days as Cap are amazing – great, layered storytelling. When Cap came back they shared the mantle for a while before Bucky was spun back to being Winter Soldier, at which point he began to sink back into obscurity – and he’s a white guy who stars in movies.

As with War Machine, he’s now a character Marvel needs to periodically kickstart into a new title or team only to watch him sink again.

Despite those concerns, check out the amazing list of Legacy Heroes Marvel is currently fielding: [Read more…] about Marvel introduced a black female Iron Man – is that a good thing? (Yes.)