Guuuuuys! I am really trying here. I absolutely loved the idea of a “Marvel Star Wars,” which is basically how Jonathan Hickman’s Imperial event was depicted when it was first announced. And the first issue was incredibly promising! But now, by issue #3 – with only one issue to go – I am wondering where this “cosmic war” is headed, and its purpose in the first place. Imperial #3 struggles by taking nearly 20 pages to rehash the first two issues, relying on a shocking amount of unneeded exposition, when the issue would have been much better served with more action and character exploration.
*WARNING: Major spoilers incoming!*
Imperial #3, from writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Iban Coello, does not suffer from bad art. Let me get that out of the way quickly. The interiors from Iban Coello, Federico Vicentini, and Federico Blee are sublime. In fact, I think the only reason I didn’t score this issue way lower is that Coelle manages to elevate the pretty boring interaction between the cosmic wars manipulators with evocative and intense artwork. Also, I think Hickman is a wonderful writer (honestly, that isn’t really up for debate at this point), but I just feel that this issue really lacked the “oomph” it needed halfway through this short event.
Some things I enjoyed: I like the interactions between Nova, Shuri, and Star-Lord, and I think Rich reactivating the Xandar Worldmind was a wonderful addition to the story that primes Nova to make a real comeback to Marvel Comics. I am also a sucker for the Inhumans… sue me! Black Bolt and Medusa are badass, and Lockjaw has zero flaws. I thought the reveal that the Grandmaster (an obvious choice) was working with Maximus the Mad was done well, and I enjoyed the twist that Maximus is actually working with his brother, Blackagar, even more.
Marvel
Sadly, that is really where my enjoyment of this issue ended. I feel absolutely terrible for fans of Wiccan and Hulkling, to be honest. If you look at the comments on League of Comic Geeks, every comment is from a Billy and Teddy stan, so pumped for their main feature in this issue. Unfortunately, the iconic queer couple is literally in only two out of 38 pages of Imperial #3, and makes very little impression… although there is a tease that the Young Avengers squad might be coming to save them. Why don’t these two have a spin-off mini from this series? Teddy is the literal King of Space.
Mainly, my critique is that this story really does not expand the scope of the story or the war – besides the involvement of the Inhumans – and does not really live up to the hype. We only have one issue left of this “world-changing event,” plus several one-shots, and it feels like this is very much still an isolated event comic, and not something that has far-reaching consequences. It was honestly exhausting reading the back and forth between Grandmaster, because we already saw all of it happen in the comics! Yes, I guess we now saw exactly how the two devious villains orchestrated the conflict, but did it really add anything to the story? It didn’t for me, and instead used up nearly 20 pages just retelling the first two issues.
Marvel
There has just been a lot built up around this, similar to Hickman’s last project G.O.D.S. I was way more hopeful about Imperial, which seemed like it was truly setting up a space epic that would shake the foundations of the Marvel Cosmic world. Sadly, as AIPT’s own Dave Brooke said to me, “No… this isn’t an event, this is just a means to an end.” These four issues feel like they solely exist to set up future series, instead of being a strong standalone story, which is what it has been repeatedly marketed as. I am super glad the Inhumans are back, in their first major role since Death of the Inhumans in 2018, but at the end of the day Imperial #3 felt like its only goal was to introduce Black Bolt into the fray.
The first 17 pages and the last four pages of Imperial #3 are excellent and would have made for a lovely 21-page comic. However, there are another 20 pages shoved in there that could have been dedicated to way more interesting stuff. Particularly, a deeper dive into Billy and Teddy, two heroes who deserve way more page time in this event that directly involves major betrayals related to their empire, would have been an excellent addition to this issue. There were parts of this issue I really enjoyed, mainly Coello’s art and Hickman’s characterization of both Maximus and Black Bolt (that page of Blackagar blasting the Grandmaster is truly iconic). Unfortunately, this issue overall did not live up to the hype, and it makes me worried about how this event will successfully wrap up with only one issue left.
P.S. I can’t believe I forgot to say this earlier, but I think it is pretty egregious that Arakko has not been represented in any of these Galactic Council meetings or plots, especially since Jonathan Hickman, creator of House of X/Powers of X, wrote Imperial. Storm was the literal Regent of Sol for years while Arakko took center stage in galactic stories, and now it’s just… not mentioned at all anymore!? Make it make sense.
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