Marvel Comics launched their new Infinity Comic line with two of the best creators in comics with an X-Men-related story. Jonathan Hickman’s writing alongside Declan Shalvey’s illustrations make for a can’t-miss first stab at a vertically-driven storytelling app. At the time it seemed like the app would be the only way to consume the story, but Marvel dropped the 54-page first chapter of X-Men Unlimited: Latitude #1 on readers today. Given it was made for digital and vertical reading, how’s the paper-reading experience?
Generally speaking, Shalvey and Hickman couldn’t miss even if they tried. This issue is a fun action-focused story that may lack data pages and deep continuity development, but it makes up for it with a good sense of humor and plenty of exciting Wolverine action. It’s unclear if this story will be important to the main narrative or if it’s a fun violent romp for Wolverine, but it’s entertaining all the same.
The cover is a clever giveaway this is story was created to be vertical, but utilizing two-panel wide pages more or less accomplishes the same effect. Having read this on Marvel Unlimited it’s obvious the ideal reading experience is on the app, but it’s still good and in one case better than the app.
The biggest loss in adapting this story from app to paper is an elevator scene where Wolverine falls and falls some more. Told over six panels, it’s still gets the point across as Wolverine bounces and takes a beating, falling down an elevator shaft, but it loses the continuous scrolling effect of the shaft on the app. The feeling of falling is a missed element you couldn’t pull off on paper.
Punch it!
Credit: Marvel
Much of the book is told via square panels, however, losing little in the adaption. Many pages are pretty basic as far as layouts go, with many pages reduced to four large panels. It’s unconventional in modern comics to see page layout so simple, but again, it works well enough here. This is definitely a speedier read as you can look at multiple panels quicker than scrolling, but the effect is generally the same.
The format excels in a scene where Wolverine punches an AIM agent over and over. Originally you’d scroll and see a fist hit the agent, see no fist at all as Wolverine wound up another punch, and then see the first again. Here though, we get a 16-panel page that hammers home the repetition in a different way.
All told, this issue has 45 pages of content and it would have been nice to get some kind of intro or explanation for its existence. There’s a letter from the editor at the back of the book from Jordan D. White, but it’s clearly not written for this edition. It’s something, at least, though.
It’ll be interesting to see if X-Men Unlimited: Latitude makes folks get a month of Marvel Unlimited to see how it was intended to be read, or simply read this and enjoy it for what it’s trying to pull off. Either way, Shalvey, and Hickman don’t disappoint with laughs, action, and some surprises too.
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