Welcome back to another installment of Two-in-One reviews, in which Don MacPherson and Randy Lander jointly review various comics. This time around, they take a look at some of what Marvel has coming up in the first two weeks of September, courtesy of black-and-white promotional photocopies. AVENGERS: CELESTIAL QUEST #1 by Steve Englehart, Jorge Santamaria & Scott Hanna scheduled for release on September 12th, 2001 Randy: I have to be honest here... I've never much cared for the Celestial Madonna story or any of its players. Moondragon, Swordsman, Mantis, I could take or leave any of them. This series is aimed pretty much directly at those who don't share those sensibilities, as it ties up the long-running tale of the Celestial Madonna, begun in Englehart's run on Avengers and continued in part of his run on West Coast Avengers. Mostly, I was bored silly. Don: We're on the same page with this one. Though I've always enjoyed Thanos, I'm quite disinterested in Mantis. However, one of the reasons I haven't cared for her in the past is her distant, alien demeanor, and here, at least she behaves like a normal woman... at times. Since the story revolves around Mantis -- a rarely used character -- the book is exposition heavy, and since her past is so convoluted, there's no way to include the information seamlessly into the story. Randy: There's a lot of big mystery going on here, as we see various incarnations of Mantis battling Thanos, and the Avengers becoming involved through strange feelings from the vision. Include a surprise guest star who was cast off from another team in the early days of Busiek's run and you've got a book that requires a pretty intensive experience with Avengers continuity to really get into. I consider myself fairly up on these things, and I didn't fully understand what was going on. Englehart nods toward the new reader by including Silverclaw as a character to whom the others can explain things, but a lot of the necessary explanation isn't offered up. Don: I think there's more to Silverclaw's appearance than simply an excuse to explain a major chunk of Avengers history. Englehart seems to indicate this will be a turning point for the young heroine, and that has piqued my interest. Randy: On the art side, at least, the book is quite fun. Jorge Santamaria, along with veteran inker Scott Hanna, turns in some truly impressive work with a variety of different settings, and although I found some of his forms a little on the skinny side, I think he is an impressive storyteller. Don: Santamaria is a name that's new to me, but I'll be keeping an eye out for him. He takes a rather odd, occasionally inaccessible story and tells it clearly. His style reminds me of Carlos (Fantastic Four, Avengers Forever) Pacheco, with a hint of John (Conan) Buscema and Joe (E-Man) Staton thrown in. I was particularly taken with his interpretation of the Vision. BLACK PANTHER #36 by Priest, Sal Velluto & Bob Almond scheduled for release on September 12th, 2001 Don: Black Panther #36 is going to be one of Marvel's 100-Page Monsters, but we don't have all of the reprints with this preview. But what we did get is what might be the very best story in the series's entire run. And when we're talking about Priest's Panther, that really means something. Randy: There is going to be some mild controversy about this book because it basically drops the storylines that ended in cliffhangers with #35 for two issues to do a future (possible? alternate? certain?) story about T'Challa, Ross and various other cast members for two issues. After reading this issue, I find that any mild frustration I might have had about that has gone away, because this issue was phenomenal, a treat for anyone who has been reading Panther for a while and anyone who (like me) loves a good possible future story. Don: Though the players in this drama are introduced clearly, this isn't exactly the easiest issue to start reading BP... well, it wouldn't be, but fortunately, the creators have included a handy-dandy character guide in the letters section. So yeah, anyone can delve into the world of the Panther in this issue, but the story is really something of a reward for those of us who have stuck around since the beginning. Keep reading, though... Randy has a different take on the accessibility issue further down in the review. Randy: Priest has a lot of fun here, playing with the various members of Panther's rogue's gallery as well as relatives of the supporting cast he has built up and establishing possible stories in the present by showing us this future. Relationships between characters you never would have expected, a look at Panther's kingdom as he settles into older age and begins turning things over to children and an older Ross are all high points of the issue. I also quite enjoyed the Batman riff we see, as the elder Ross seems to resemble Commissioner Jim Gordon quite a bit, with Panther playing his Batman. On the artwork front, after two guest art issues, Velluto and Almond are back and in fine form. Their visions of a future Manhattan and Wakanda are impressive, and I love the way they put the aging makeup on various characters and extrapolate to create the look for descendants of the characters we currently know. Usually future stories get by on novelty, but this is one so well-established that I wouldn't mind reading a lot more stories set in this timeframe, as it's just as visually rich as the modern setting. Don: Yes, Velluto's vision of Manhattan as Ross and Panther's Gotham City was quite impressive, but just as noteworthy is how easy he makes it to tell the various characters apart. And in this story -- in which several new key characters are introduced -- that clarity is of paramount importance. Randy: In addition to having a killer lead story, this "100-page Monster" includes a nice little journal giving us Ross's view of the Panther with beautiful sketches by Sal Velluto and reprints of several key Black Panther stories, including his origin story and first appearance in the Fantastic Four. And therein lies my main problem with the book, actually, because this would seem an ideal jumping-on point, but since the story relies on readers knowing the various characters pretty well to get what's going on and will jump back after two issues into a story that new readers will not have seen at all, this issue pretty much defines the term inaccessible. THOR #41 by Dan Jurgens, Stuart Immonen & Scott Koblish scheduled for release on September 5th, 2001 Randy: Raise your hand, anyone who believes the big death in this title will take any more than it did the last couple of times. Yeah, me neither. Which means that this issue, a big funeral, full of pomp and circumstance, seems at best pointless and at worst downright ridiculous. Jurgens tries hard to convince us that this is a big change in the realm of Asgard, and to show us the mourning throughout the land, but he spends the first half of the story trying to hold out hope that the dead character might survive the issue (which nobody buys if they've read any of Marvel's PR) and the second half on a hasty and half-hearted funeral. Don: I see your points about Odin's previous deaths, but why can't this story be about what Jurgens has written in this issue alone and not what other writers have done before him? The point of the story isn't that Odin is dead, but the effect that death has on those closest to him and the subjects of an entire realm. I rather enjoyed this issue. Jurgens did convince me of the Asgardians' grief, and of the notion that Odin's death marks a major turning point for an entire society of gods. I'm not usually one for the lofty characters of Thor, but their grief shines a spotlight on the parts of them that are human. Randy: Though the art is by Stuart Immonen, Scott Koblish is absolutely the wrong inker for him. Immonen's beautiful linework is obscured in shadow, and while this may be intentional to keep the dark tone of the book, he winds up looking more like a poor man's John Paul Leon than himself. Don: Again, we disagree. Koblish's inks brought a gritty but detailed tone to Immonen's realistic figures. I also loved how Immonen's pencils made the sometimes silly fashions worn by the Asgardians seem plausible. Randy: Probably the most interesting thing about this status quo change is the role it will push Thor into, but that change is soundly ignored for most of the issue, and by the time it comes up, it's too late to save the issue. I don't believe the dead character is really dead, and even if he is, I don't believe it will impact on readers or this title all that much when all is said and done. Email Randy and Don comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.