Out this week is the second ever Marvel’s Voices: Community, following last year’s celebration of Latino heroes and creators. It continues Marvel’s tradition of giving a diverse group of creators the opportunity to tell stories using diverse characters in an anthology paired with interviews and more. This year’s issue features six stories that utilize characters like Nova, Miles Morales, and Shark-Girl, to name a few. It’s an action-packed issue filled with culture, strong messages, and often underused characters.
Kicking things off is an introduction by Hector Navarro, who rose up in the ranks of Marvel Studios films like Iron Man 3, hosts the podcast El Rey Nation, and co-founded the famous YouTube channel Heroes Reforged. He relates how important Spider-Man was because you couldn’t see his skin tone–he could be anyone and any race under that mask–and how his pride and love of Marvel is similar to his pride in being Latino. It’s a good introduction that reminds us how vital representation means to kiddos and adults alike.
Kicking off the comics portion of the stories is Fabian Nicieza and Paco Medina’s “A Small Mercy,” featuring Sam Alexander’s Nova. It’s a great opener and a good story in its own right. Nestled in the narrative is the concept of refugees being mistreated and not even heard. One can see the connection between this story and the American border with Mexico. Medina’s art carries a clean, appealing superhero look that makes it top tier in quality. Walden Wong backs him up on inks with Ceci De La Cruz on colors, giving it a bright pop that only the Marvel cosmic universe can deliver.
A dope opening story with Nova.
Credit: Marvel
Next up is “Music to My Ears” by Edgar Delgado and Luis Morocho, with a clever story involving earworms. Earworms are these songs that get stuck in your head, and the creators are exploring what that might look like if a villain weaponized it. This story leans into the traditional music Miles’ parents love, and there’s a nice message about their cultural music being popular no matter who is listening.
Alex Segura and Rogê Antônio take on White Tiger in a story featuring a fear-controlling supervillain. This character is dealing with some significant performance issues and is fighting Mister Fear with just her courage and wits about her. Mr. Fear looks great (heck, the design is better than DC’s Scarecrow), and he gives her a run for her money. The fact that this tale picks up on story threads and moves them forward is a bonus.
Angelique Roche delivers one of her great interviews with Fabian Nicieza next, delving into his time getting into Marvel in 1983. The interview goes into how FedEx allowed for faster shipping and thus the ability to hire artists globally. It’s a neat look into how Marvel comics were made.
Shark-Girl gets to team up with Namor, or maybe it’s more of a fight and coming to an understanding, in a story by Zoraida Cordova and Yasmin Flores Montanez with Frank Williams on colors. Super fun and over the top, this tale leans into Shark-Girl’s super positivity and how it can even work on super crumbums like Namor. It leans a bit more for the younger readers as it’s more about Shark-Girl’s positivity than sending a message or offering cool fight scenes.
Second to last in the anthology is “More With Less” by Carlos Hernandez and Marcelo Costa, continuing the adventures of America. America has less control of her powers and struggles to beat a C-lister. This story finds its most vital moment in a conversation between America and her father. In it, he tells her he regrets once telling her to keep her head down and that she must shake things up if she has the means. It’s a nice message that inspires America to never give up.
Closing out the comics in this collection is “Celebration” by Dio Neves and Frank Williams on colors. It’s a fun double-page splash featuring many Latino heroes, some of which didn’t make it into this collection. There isn’t a story here, but it’s a nice ender.
Wrapping things up is a one-pager detailing Latin heroes and their origin issues. You get six total, two of which feature characters getting stories in this anthology.
Marvel’s Voices: Community is an important comic for its ability to raise diverse creators and characters. However, the latest issue has the bonus of having great stories from cover to cover. Many tales look fabulous while harnessing important messages that will inspire future generations.
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