It’s coming up aces for M.O.D.O.K. fans right now, with an amazing Marvel Legends figure on the way and an excellent first issue for his new miniseries. In the second issue out this week, the cover tells you everything you need to know as M.O.D.O.K. is teaming up with Iron Man on a bit of an espionage style adventure. We’re talking covert ops, disguises, and killing people in the bathroom. Customary of M.O.D.O.K. though, the killing is extraordinary and the best you can find.
This issue opens with Tony helping M.O.D.O.K. and a few friends — Hawkeye in particular — totally be shocked by that. You can check that out in the preview, which also reveals M.O.D.O.K. has a serious malfunction: He thinks he has a family. Aiming to figure out who put newly found memories of a family in his brain, the two team up to help one another (Tony wants to get some tech back). What follows is an excellent example of comedy action in comics. The book never takes itself too seriously, there are plenty of gags throughout, and the visual comedy is on point. Given the creative team, this should come as no surprise.
Written by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt with art by Scott Hepburn and colors by Carlos Lopez, this book continues to be a ton of fun. Speaking of the M.O.D.O.K. design, Hepburn does a fabulous job showing the intricacies of M.O.D.O.K.’s brain and his tiny arms. These little details make his appearance a little more believable, like he’s some kind of a hunk of super technology rather than a head with bits of tech added on. Personalities run high too thanks to Hepburn and the writing by Oswalt and Blum. Tony, for instance, has the perfect amount of casual overconfidence.
Imagine if you could open up your brain?
Credit: Marvel Comics
This issue is mostly set at a supervillain convention, which is a colorful idea to start, but made even cooler thanks to the variety of villains mulling about. There are familiar characters, like Moji popping up in frame, but also some wacky randos that remind us supervillains in Marvel Comics are quite colorful. This also allows M.O.D.O.K. to go nuts in a violent way, yet keep things casual since villains deserve death. Or at least M.O.D.O.K. does! The climax to this issue reveals just how dangerous M.O.D.O.K. can be, which is cleverly done using his percentages and creative ways of killing.
For a zany book like this, one might assume the hijinks don’t matter, but there’s a purpose to it all you might not expect. Outside of wanting M.O.D.O.K. to figure out if his family is real or made up, you’ll root for M.O.D.O.K. and Iron Man to pull through thanks to their rapport. This is material that will likely be too zany and out there for some though, but given the title character, you should know what you’re getting into.
M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games is an anti-hero story that’s hard to resist. If you’re looking for riotous, violent escapism with infectious energy, you can’t go wrong with this series. M.O.D.O.K. fans are in for a treat as the character is getting his due here and then some.
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