The Union is the best team comic Marvel is putting out.

Yeah, I said it.

Paul Grist's writing is top notch and actually manages to surprise you in a good way. In the last issue alone a shapeshifter turned into a gorilla and attempted to rip a man in half but couldn't because the man was not a man but a bunch of snakes posing as a man. Plus new characters that are actually interesting like Bulldog and The Sponge.

Andrea Di Vito's interior art is actually [B][I][U]better[/U][/I][/B] than the cover art. Seriously, you don't need cover artist for this. I almost didn't want to point this out because there is nothing Marvel hates more than having a great artist do a long run on a book. Andrea's art is reminiscent of prime Mark Bagley (when he was on Thunderbolts) and is a joy to see.

Buy this book, and if you have any cash left over find a copy of Taskmaster at the local comic shop. Take it up to the register. Ask to see the OWNER of the store then roll it up and hit the owner and say "STOP ORDERING THIS, IT'S UTTER DRECK!"

It’s pretty good, yeah.

I like it, but it isnt the best team comic from Marvel.

I'm really enjoying it also. I'm surprised it is getting so little support here.


[QUOTE=Rang10;5410114]I like it, but it isnt the best team comic from Marvel.[/QUOTE]

I'm simply overwhelmed by the number of X-books, and outside of them, what other teams are there? Aaron's Avengers is unreadable. Slott's FF is boring. Champions is a teen book that I've no interest in.

who are all the team members?

sorry to hear they are pulling the plug. Union Jack has always been a favorite character of mine I was hoping the book could at least last a few years to get a couple of good arcs in. Marvel gave that book too quick of a hook. I like the book but for me Hellions is the best team book put out by Marvel right now.

[QUOTE=EmeraldGladiator;5420314]sorry to hear they are pulling the plug. Union Jack has always been a favorite character of mine I was hoping the book could at least last a few years to get a couple of good arcs in. Marvel gave that book too quick of a hook. I like the book but for me Hellions is the best team book put out by Marvel right now.[/QUOTE]

It wasn't cancelled. It was always supposed to be a mini-series. Was hoping it would be popular enough we'd get another mini-series, but I'm not sure that's the case.

[QUOTE=Hypestyle;5418902]who are all the team members?[/QUOTE]

They are all new, except Union Jack, I believe.

Britania, Kelpie, Choir, Snakes, and now Bulldog.

[QUOTE=Reviresco;5420507]It wasn't cancelled. It was always supposed to be a mini-series. Was hoping it would be popular enough we'd get another mini-series, but I'm not sure that's the case.[/QUOTE]

Oh I figured it might be a mini but 5 issues? I was thinking at least 6 and hoped for 12, maybe cancelled was the wrong word ended quicker than expected. What story can you tell when you are tied into a crossover that doesn't have much to do with your first arc, in only 5 issues.

[QUOTE=Anthony W;5410077] Andrea Di Vito's interior art is actually [B][I][U]better[/U][/I][/B] than the cover art. Seriously, you don't need cover artist for this. I almost didn't want to point this out because there is nothing Marvel hates more than having a great artist do a long run on a book. Andrea's art is reminiscent of prime Mark Bagley (when he was on Thunderbolts) and is a joy to see. [/QUOTE]

Yes! There's such a ridiculous attention to detail. Union Jack has red swollen knuckles a couple of days after a fistfight, and a scar in his hairline that serves no artistic function, since it's not one of those symmetrical facial scars that characters get inexplicably and resemble tiger stripes or tattoos more than actual scars that people would have.

And the story is interesting. Each one of the new characters has some mysteries to unlock, which just adds to the Thunderbolts vibe. How did The Choir get her modifications? What even is Kelpie? What the hell is Snakes?!

New faces, and new characters, including now Craig, who just might be the most fun character I've seen since Cosmo, over in Guardians of the Galaxy. Bulldog and Craig need to become bitter rivals. Or perhaps drinking buddies. Optimally, both! I kind of love how Bulldog is basically an angrier taller Puck, and so seemingly set up to be the mid-season 'one of them will surely die!' sacrifice. He's just interesting enough that I'm not rooting for him to die, and unlikable enough that I'm not exactly gonna be heartbroken when his story ends. (Then again the writer could be pulling a Whedon and foreshadowing that he's going to die, like Hawkeye in Age of Ultron, only to bait-and-switch at the last minute...)

This book has two things going for it, for me. Union Jack and Andrea DeVito. It has, IMHO, a couple of things I don't like also, but I guess the good trumps the bad. I will check this out in the TPB.

Peace

Like the references like how PM was painting cardboard buses in last weeks issue

[QUOTE=Reviresco;5418769] I'm simply overwhelmed by the number of X-books, and outside of them, what other teams are there? Aaron's Avengers is unreadable. Slott's FF is boring. Champions is a teen book that I've no interest in.[/QUOTE]

There is Al Ewing's Guardian book you would like to check out.

It would be great if this book got another series and they could free Captain Britain (Brian Braddock, the real one) from the clutches of the X-Office and have him join the team.

[QUOTE=Reviresco;5420520]They are all new, except Union Jack, I believe.

Britania, Kelpie, Choir, Snakes, and now Bulldog.[/QUOTE]Britannia [spoil]is killed in issue 1. Maybe that was a mandate, that she couldn't survive the series? She's basically Wonder Woman without the lasso after all.[/spoil]

[QUOTE=Digifiend;5466818]Britannia [spoil]is killed in issue 1. Maybe that was a mandate, that she couldn't survive the series? She's basically Wonder Woman without the lasso after all.[/spoil][/QUOTE]

I think that [spoil]Britannia's death was something planned by the writer in the first place, even when the Union was originally planned as a Empire's tie-in.[/spoil]

[QUOTE=LAWtoyoto 432;5465713]There is Al Ewing's Guardian book you would like to check out.[/QUOTE]

Al Ewings GOTG is absolute trash and the art is very ordinary, the title is getting a slight reboot with issue# 13 festuring new characters etc but it is very ordinary to say the least.

The artwork in this book is great as is the writing

What makes this comic work is that it's [B][I]just[/I] [/B]a good comic. It's a part of a continuing story but each issue stands on its own. Remember that? It's not decompressed. It follows the rule of "show don't tell" so it doesn't pull you out of the story to waste pages (hello X-Books!) on boring info dumps. It's not making characters you like job to the new guys to prove how awesome they are. It's creating NEW VILLAINS. I repeat, it's creating new villains and they are actually interesting. Read. This. Book.

Makes a nice change to have a book written from a British perspective too. Even other British writers like Al Ewing don't do that.

Late to the party, Sunday Mirror? This article really should've appeared before issue 1, not after issue 4.
[url]https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/comic-book-fan-60-gets-23890002[/url]

I really enjoy Paul Grist's comics, but have little interest these days in most Marvels, let alone "events" like King in Black, so passed on this. Will look into it, although I am also tired of short-run series. But I DO really enjoy Paul Grist's comics--!

The Union is interesting but I think after four issues they could be developed more. There's one more issue and we know next to nothing about any of these new characters other than Britannia and the Choir, and even that's marginal.

Although, I do enjoy Doc Croc's team (even if he's not so interesting) and I was kinda hoping the Keep Guard would actually multiply.

Also, given that he was the one missing from the 30 year flashback, does anyone else think Darwin is a grown up Sponge?

So that's done, and it was a fun arc.

I'm left curious about all sorts of stuff, like Snakes true nature (and what his funky speech bubbles are supposed to represent, we can assume he 'sounds different', but how do others hear his voice?), and now the nature of Lady Shimmering Lights, who seems, at a guess, to actually *be* those shimmery lights (perhaps a will o wisp type entity?) animating a department store mannequin of a woman.

There's plenty of stuff to mine for a later series with these characters, if there's ever an audience for it, and the artist is amazing, so hopefully she finds regular work somewhere else!

It was a good miniseries and I enjoyed it. Hope to see more of these characters in the future.

[spoil]So Britannia's soul hid inside Union Jack... I wonder if she'll be able to reform her body? Everyone else outside the team still thinks she's dead.[/spoil]

I want to believe that Craig the Yorkie is still alive and will move in with the team when they get back together. I feel like this title needed one more issue to properly wrap things up.

I really think this books is crap.

*see a cute corgi that can talk*

10/10 great book, want ore.


Now im serious, I realy want to see more of them and maybe get britannia back to life. Andrea di vito art is good, want to see more of him on marvel

Finally got to read this in trade. A good read. Some of the best I've read from Marvel in quite a while. Andrea diVito's art, of course, is as top-notch and as exciting as always. I just think that they could have used a bit more of established British characters in the mix. I'd be up to seeing more.

Peace

I read the trade a few weeks back. Thought it was decent, middling would be how I'd describe it. I don't think Brittania is really dead(99% of characters rarely are). I think if they had gotten another more immediate mini or an ongoing we would've seen her return. It feels the set up is already there.
I rarely see my name used for any comic character but here it is for a dog! haha

LOVED this series. Would gladly buy this regularly, if an ongoing came out. Or pick up another mini-series.