AXIS: Revolutions #1

By Dennis Hopeless, Simon Spurrier, Ken Lashley, Tan Eng Haut, Craig Yeung & Rachelle Rosenberg

As with the other tie-ins such as AXIS: Hobgoblin and AXIS: Carnage, AXIS: Revolutions looks at how the events in AXIS have changed the Marvel superheroes across the world. With two standalone and separate stories, entitled With Great Hate and Hoary Hosts of Hate, AXIS: Revolutions gets off to a pretty strong start.

The first chapter of this issue looks at Spider-Man and how he is effected by the events of AXIS. People across Manhattan are being driven mad, and it’s interesting to see how Dennis Hopeless tackles this. The storyline is a relatively simple one and is unlikely to be remembered beyond the events of AXIS, but if you’re a fan of Peter Parker and the fun wisecracks that Spidey is often capable of pulling, then this is going to be enjoyable for you.

It’s fun and enjoyable, and with Ken Lashley and Rachelle Rosenberg on pencils and colouring duties respectively, the first chapter looks like it could easily be a part of the main Amazing Spider-Man title and you probably wouldn’t notice much difference (even J. Jonah Jameson shows up), with the main probable reason why it’s here instead of there is that Edge of Spider-Verse is in full swing at the moment. But despite that, With Great Hate still manages to be an effective story even though it’s not the most relevant. If you’re a fan of Peter Parker and want to know what he’s doing in this event though, then you’ll probably get something out of this chapter.

The second issue, written by Simon Spurrier (who this reviewer is mainly familiar with from his Warhammer 40,000 fiction as opposed to his Marvel Comics issues) delivers an equally done-in-one story featuring Dr. Strange in his Sanctum Sanctorum. It’s a nice showcase for those not too familiar with Strange to give an idea as to what to expect from the character, and Spurrier handles it well. Like With Great Hate, Hoary Hosts of Hate does a great job at continuing to flesh out how the Marvel Universe as a whole reacts to the events in AXIS with Strange getting plenty to do. Unlike Spider-Man, Strange here is afflicted by hate, and allows Spurrier inject humor into Strange without it feeling out of character. It’s the strongest out of the two, and hopefully with the movie on the horizon, this will be the start of the increased amount of exposure that Strange gets in the comics, and based from this issue, it would be pretty cool to see Spurrier write an ongoing series featuring the character.

The artwork is provided by Tan Eng Haut, who puts in some strong pencils, and although it’s a notable difference from the first story, you’ll get used to it after a while. Craig Yeung’s inks once more add to the strong quality of art on display and Rachelle Rosenberg once again provides some great colours.

So it’s safe to say that there’s a lot of good talent in Hoary Hosts of Hate and, as a result, this second story helps make at least this first issue of the series worth the admission price and a good opportunity for those looking to explore more about Marvel’s latest event, and writers that readers may not be overly familiar with.