Empyre (2020)

[your_name_here]

While Hulk is in the horror franchise, and the run is getting nominated for awards and praised by critics as many fans alike, everything under the franchise of the Hulk naturally will begin to fall under the same genre.

She Hulk is just that.

And...it can’t be any worse than how it is now, right?

[Supermutant2099]

While Hulk is in the horror franchise, and the run is getting nominated for awards and praised by critics as many fans alike, everything under the franchise of the Hulk naturally will begin to fall under the same genre.

She Hulk is just that.

And...it can’t be any worse than how it is now, right?

One thing I learn about comics (marvel and dc) is never say it can't get worse. Plus fans want to jen return to smart and funny character she was. That wouldn't fit into what horror style of what the hulk is now.

[your_name_here]

One thing I learn about comics (marvel and dc) is never say it can't get worse. Plus fans want to jen return to smart and funny character she was. That wouldn't fit into what horror style of what the hulk is now.

Taking that attitude is what is ruining comics for you, not the creators or what you perceive as writers “not caring.” Comics are all about change and creativity. As I said, some stick the landing, others don’t.
It’s safe to say Immortal Hulk and the horror element HAS stuck the landing.

Jen will be smart/funny again soon. Everything returns to how it was. With her show on the way, that will definitely be the case.

But we are getting off topic...
Empyre is doing okay. Nothing mind blowing for me as yet to make it worthy of being an event. I feel I wouldn’t enjoyed this a lot more if this was just in the pages of the FF and Avengers respectively.

[Drops Of Venus]

One thing I feel about Empyre, specially after this issue, is that this event probably reads better when you're following the tie-ins. I'm not following most of the other tie-ins, but I decided to read Lords Of Empyre: Celestial Messiah just because I thought it was relevant, and it added so much more depth to the interaction between Mantis and Quoi in the main issue. It sucks that the Thor tie-in was cancelled, because this is the second issue in which Tony mentions Thor being in a quest, but we won't see what it is, so it just looks like Thor vanished from the event for no reason. The Invasion Of Wakanda tie-in would've also probably added a lot more depth to what's going on in Wakanda right now, which in the main book really looks like just a backdrop. I'll catch up on all of the tie-ins when they're all available on Marvel Unlimited.

Now to the spoilers:

spoilers:

That definitely wasn't Teddy in the beginning, and I didn't even need that twist in the end to realize it. It was pretty obvious when Carol called him Teddy and he corrected her by saying ''Dorrek''. It was such an unsubtle red flag to show the readers that wasn't really Teddy. The natural conclusion is that this was R'Klll impersonating him, right? Although I'm not sure how she got the Universal Weapon to say it was Teddy. I assume she rigged it somehow, since she was the one who gave it to Carol in the first place. It was weird to me that it looked like they didn't really directly follow up on the massive plot twist from issue #3, though. Like, what the hell is R'Klll planning to do? Does Captain Glory know about it and is helping her? This dude's getting on my nerves. He's on thin ice! I guess we'll find out in issue #5. It was nice seeing Mur-G'nn not buying into their **** and sending Carol and Johnny to Billy's apartment. Also, I instantly recognized that it was their apartment even before I saw the panel with Billy, LOL. HE LOOKED REALLY GOOD DRAWN BY VALERIO!!!!! And the way he described how he knew it wasn't Teddy due to his body language... TRUE LOVE, Y'ALL! I was expecting more from the Quoi/Mantis interaction this issue, but like I said, LOE: Celestial Messiah really helped fill in the blanks. I highly recommend for anyone who wants more insight into their relationship, thoughts and feelings! That moment was obviously more relevant due to the She-Hulk twist... which I definitely didn't see coming. I figured Jen was possibly the one who would die, with the Immortal She-Hulk one-shot and whatnot, but I wasn't expecting that revelation that she had been dead ever since Avengers #0 and it was just a Cotati using her body. Pretty macabre. Ewing seems to like this body-switch twists. It's like the third one in this event alone. But I'm sure Jen will be ok; Ewing probably killed her precisely because he knew she was the one he could easily bring back. And of course... the big gay wedding at the end!!! I always knew we would get a Wickling wedding one day... but I never imagined it would be this way! Kinda crazy to think Billy and Teddy found time during all this madness to get married without anyone (other than the Young Avengers who were there) knowing about it. And now it's kinda clear what Billy's role in the event is... he will help them find the real Teddy and unmask whoever's pretending to be him (likely his evil grandma)! Really looking forward to see how this unfolds...

end of spoilers

Did I miss something, or is T’Challa’s plan for Excelsior to just use it? It seemed like in #3 he was going to do something else with it.

This is actually a good question. They even gave him the narration bubbles in this issue... but he only showed up for like one page? It was weird. I feel like this issue kinda failed to follow-up on the hype established in the previous one. Don't get me wrong; the issue itself was good and had good twists, but I feel like it failed in addressing the twists from the previous one first before throwing more stuff at us, you know? I guess #5 will probably have to do the job in following up both #3 and #4. And like I said, maybe not having the Invasion Of Wakanda tie-in didn't help.

Goes back to not carrying about fans. Block people? Fine. But blocklists and obvious creators who use that don't care if fans who deeply love their work are caught in it.

Ewing uses block-chains BECAUSE he cares about his fans and the social media space he's creating for them. As far as I know, he uses them to block Comicsgate people and the people associated with them. If you're not involved with that crowd and you still ended up on his block-chain for some reason, you can always ask someone who's not blocked to send him a message explaining the situation and asking for you to be unblocked. I'm sure he would understand. But if you ended up on his block-chain due to Comicsgate association... well, tough luck. He's within his rights to not want that noise on his social media, considering all the hate and harassment campaigns they have promoted against people in the industry.

[Supermutant2099]

Taking that attitude is what is ruining comics for you, not the creators or what you perceive as writers “not caring.” Comics are all about change and creativity. As I said, some stick the landing, others don’t.
It’s safe to say Immortal Hulk and the horror element HAS stuck the landing.

Jen will be smart/funny again soon. Everything returns to how it was. With her show on the way, that will definitely be the case.

But we are getting off topic...
Empyre is doing okay. Nothing mind blowing for me as yet to make it worthy of being an event. I feel I wouldn’t enjoyed this a lot more if this was just in the pages of the FF and Avengers respectively.

When gut tells me things and then marvel does that thing. Goes in directions that are bad and make sense. Creativity but then there is going wrong directions. I just seen enough from marvel not to trust them.

I will say getting back on topic I am happy about the wedding happening. Just wish it wasn't felt like it a little shoe horned into event. Instead happening as Young Avengers book.

[XPac]

This is definately an event where I feel I need to read the tie-ins. I think generally speaking marvel events often do a much better job of making the tie-ins seem less necessary... but I'm just not feeling like I'm getting a complete story here.

That said, the plants are starting to come off a lot scarier, and that's what I needed. I just didn't feel as though they were legitimately that much of a threat, but I'm starting to now. So that's helping the story a lot.

[gch230]

One thing I feel about Empyre, specially after this issue, is that this event probably reads better when you're following the tie-ins. I'm not following most of the other tie-ins, but I decided to read Lords Of Empyre: Celestial Messiah just because I thought it was relevant, and it added so much more depth to the interaction between Mantis and Quoi in the main issue. It sucks that the Thor tie-in was cancelled, because this is the second issue in which Tony mentions Thor being in a quest, but we won't see what it is, so it just looks like Thor vanished from the event for no reason. The Invasion Of Wakanda tie-in would've also probably added a lot more depth to what's going on in Wakanda right now, which in the main book really looks like just a backdrop. I'll catch up on all of the tie-ins when they're all available on Marvel Unlimited.

Now to the spoilers:

spoilers:

That definitely wasn't Teddy in the beginning, and I didn't even need that twist in the end to realize it. It was pretty obvious when Carol called him Teddy and he corrected her by saying ''Dorrek''. It was such an unsubtle red flag to show the readers that wasn't really Teddy. The natural conclusion is that this was R'Klll impersonating him, right? Although I'm not sure how she got the Universal Weapon to say it was Teddy. I assume she rigged it somehow, since she was the one who gave it to Carol in the first place. It was weird to me that it looked like they didn't really directly follow up on the massive plot twist from issue #3, though. Like, what the hell is R'Klll planning to do? Does Captain Glory know about it and is helping her? This dude's getting on my nerves. He's on thin ice! I guess we'll find out in issue #5. It was nice seeing Mur-G'nn not buying into their **** and sending Carol and Johnny to Billy's apartment. Also, I instantly recognized that it was their apartment even before I saw the panel with Billy, LOL. HE LOOKED REALLY GOOD DRAWN BY VALERIO!!!!! And the way he described how he knew it wasn't Teddy due to his body language... TRUE LOVE, Y'ALL!

end of spoilers

Yeah I was a little confused spoilers:

What happens when Teddy wakes up and wonders why the hell the Pyre was deployed and where Captain Marvel and Johnny Storm went. It seems like a weird thing for R’Klll to do with Teddy still there, and something easily uncovered. I bet Captain Glory is in on it from their interaction in #3. It does show the challenges of ruling a race of shapeshifters, though. I think R’Klll some kind of advanced Skrull ability, she was also able to pass as 100% Kree by the ship scanners as well, so I dont think she tampered with the Universal Weapon. I thought it would be able to tell the difference though, which could be why it didnt respond to her as Tanalth like it did for Carol, but that theory is apparently wrong.

end of spoilers

[Journey]

They shouldn't have cut any of the tie ins especially the Wakanda one since they make it seem like what's going on there is crucial, even as far as to say Black Panther is the most dangerous man on the planet the lack of context annoys me. The savage avengers one is unnecessary, yet it remained, the Captain America one is also unnecessary yet they kept that I'm confused. Still loving Empyre!!

[XPac]

They shouldn't have cut any of the tie ins especially the Wakanda one since they make it seem like what's going on their is crucial, even as far as to say Black Panther is the most dangerous man on the planet the lack of context annoys me. Still loving Empyre!!

Yeah, I definately feel ripped off over not getting the Invasion of Wakanda mini. Can't help but at least imagine some epic stuff was going on and we're only getting the cliffs notes version of it in the main title.

[Digifiend]

They shouldn't have cut any of the tie ins especially the Wakanda one since they make it seem like what's going on there is crucial, even as far as to say Black Panther is the most dangerous man on the planet the lack of context annoys me. The savage avengers one is unnecessary, yet it remained, the Captain America one is also unnecessary yet they kept that I'm confused. Still loving Empyre!!

Which ones were kept and which were binned seems to depend on how ready they were, and that generally means the ones that were to start earlier survived, and the later ones bit the dust.

[scourge]

Yeah I was a little confused spoilers:

What happens when Teddy wakes up and wonders why the hell the Pyre was deployed and where Captain Marvel and Johnny Storm went. It seems like a weird thing for R’Klll to do with Teddy still there, and something easily uncovered. I bet Captain Glory is in on it from their interaction in #3. It does show the challenges of ruling a race of shapeshifters, though. I think R’Klll some kind of advanced Skrull ability, she was also able to pass as 100% Kree by the ship scanners as well, so I dont think she tampered with the Universal Weapon. I thought it would be able to tell the difference though, which could be why it didnt respond to her as Tanalth like it did for Carol, but that theory is apparently wrong.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Given the solicit for the next issue I think there's more to it than just doing it while he's sleeping.

end of spoilers

[Waking Replica]

Based on the solicit, #5 would be the perfect time to

spoilers:

involve the rest of YA, especially with post-Empyre being centered on them and the wedding reception. If Billy's going to jailbreak Teddy, getting the gang back together seems like the most obvious thing to do. Unfortunately, I feel like it'll just be Billy + maybe Johnny and Carol, but this seems too perfect an opportunity, to get them back together and tease a future book/reunion, to pass up imo. Surely that Avengers call to arms in the tie-in got to them (I haven't read it, so idk how that worked out)? Not only would Empyre get to say it had the BillyTeddy wedding reveal, but it would also have the YA reunion to its name

end of spoilers

[Venom Melendez]

Yeah I don't trust Al Ewing not to turn her evil like he has been doing to Hulk

Except Hulk isn't evil, none of the personalities are.

[scourge]

Based on the solicit, #5 would be the perfect time to

spoilers:

involve the rest of YA, especially with post-Empyre being centered on them and the wedding reception. If Billy's going to jailbreak Teddy, getting the gang back together seems like the most obvious thing to do. Unfortunately, I feel like it'll just be Billy + maybe Johnny and Carol, but this seems too perfect an opportunity, to get them back together and tease a future book/reunion, to pass up imo. Surely that Avengers call to arms in the tie-in got to them (I haven't read it, so idk how that worked out)? Not only would Empyre get to say it had the BillyTeddy wedding reveal, but it would also have the YA reunion to its name

end of spoilers

A full group return would be better than just the three.

[Sataniel]

One thing I feel about Empyre, specially after this issue, is that this event probably reads better when you're following the tie-ins. I'm not following most of the other tie-ins, but I decided to read Lords Of Empyre: Celestial Messiah just because I thought it was relevant, and it added so much more depth to the interaction between Mantis and Quoi in the main issue. It sucks that the Thor tie-in was cancelled, because this is the second issue in which Tony mentions Thor being in a quest, but we won't see what it is, so it just looks like Thor vanished from the event for no reason. The Invasion Of Wakanda tie-in would've also probably added a lot more depth to what's going on in Wakanda right now, which in the main book really looks like just a backdrop. I'll catch up on all of the tie-ins when they're all available on Marvel Unlimited.

They shouldn't have cut any of the tie ins especially the Wakanda one since they make it seem like what's going on there is crucial, even as far as to say Black Panther is the most dangerous man on the planet the lack of context annoys me. The savage avengers one is unnecessary, yet it remained, the Captain America one is also unnecessary yet they kept that I'm confused. Still loving Empyre!!

Empyre sure got screwed hard by the cutting down of the tie-ins. It's a rare event where many feel substantial (Lords of Empyre oneshots especially), and many would feel substantial if we got them (Invasion of Wakanda obviously, Thor perhaps, since they refer to it heavily). It generally is no wonder that Ewing tried to put some weight on tie-ins since the story already has a lot to deal with (and honestly could have much more, there is a lot of potential subplots that aren't touched on, probably due to issue constraints).

Except Hulk isn't evil, none of the personalities are.

Well there is that Secret Empire personality that was imprisoned spoilers:

but might've broken free

end of spoilers and whatever is going on with spoilers:

Green Scar and perhaps Joe being compromised by Leader

end of spoilers.