The latest arc of the Love Unlimited anthology series, a vertically scrolling infinity comic exclusive to the Marvel Unlimited app, stars Karma, a founding member of the New Mutants. This six-part series is drawn and written by Trung Le Nguyen, the writer and artist behind 2020’s highly acclaimed The Magic Fish, in his Marvel debut.
The issue opens at the inaugural Krakoan Hellfire Gala. Karma, aka Xi’an, now spelled on page as Xuân (pronounced “Swun”), chats with fellow mutant Gabrielle Diwa and explains the unfortunate circumstance around how she has been addressed by others throughout her publication history. While I can’t fault Karma’s original creators for not having a complete grasp of Vietnamese naming conventions when Chris Claremont wrote her first appearance (before widespread internet access) in 1980, it’s still nice to see this correction towards a more authentic portrayal of Vietnamese culture.
This playful, intimate moment continues through the first half of the issue and is lovingly rendered in Nguyen’s trademark style, with expressive locks of hair framing these ladies’ smiles as they share a flirty moment of power-assisted dancing.
The infinity comic format is still a new form, but Nguyen demonstrates here that he understands the assignment. The screen is effectively filled with a combination of expressive poses that can fill the screen to clusters of smaller panels.
Even if the ending of this first issue is a bit of a downer for Karma, Nguyen earns enough goodwill over the course of the issue to have me very much looking forward to what the remaining five issues have in store.
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