One Hot Panel(s): Black Stars Above, Frankenstein Undone, and X-Men #5
By Zack Quaintance — Welcome once again to the weekly feature named after a mostly bad Red Hot Chili Peppers album, wherein we look at some key panels from this past week of comics. Why are we looking at these panels? It could be the art, it could be the dialogue, it could be a major significant happening. It all depends!
Anyway, without further adieu, on to this week’s One Hot Panel(s).
Enjoy!
Black Stars Above #3
Artwork in this issue is by Jenna Cha with colors by Brad Simpson and lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Since this book (written by Lonnie Nadler) launched at Vault Comics, it has quickly established itself as a different sort of horror comic, one rooted in deeply scary existential scares, the sort that don’t shock or thrill you, but instead linger in your mind, growing into a full bloom of terror. This six panel sequence is an excellent example of one such scare in Black Stars Above #3.
Frankenstein Undone #1
Artwork in this issue is by Ben Stenbeck with colors by Brennan Wagner and letters by Clem Robbins.
I really liked this week’s Frankenstein Undone #1, which is one of the most interesting new series in the Hellboy Universe since the main storyline ended their last year. There’s a lot of mythos and continuity bits to reward people who have read it all, but there’s also a relatable and touching story for anyone to just come in cold (har har) and pickup. This little sequence depicts the heart of it.
X-Men #5
Artwork in this issue is by R.B. Silva with colors by Marte Gracia and letters by Clayton Cowles.
So, the X-Men main title has been fantastic since the Dawn of X relaunch, with varied stories in each issue that take on different subject matter and tone. X-Men #5 is no exception, although it does tie back into HoX/PoX more directly than most, specifically PoX if you ask me. Anyway, this issue sees the assembling of a strike force that can withstand all manner of temporal hijinx, and that strike force is Wolverine, Darwin, and Synch….who all looked prime and ready to go in this panel. I also want to throw in two more panels (see below) where something visually striking befalls them, although we don’t exactly know what yet because — cliffhanger!
Ooo. What is that thing?!
Finally, I want to include this last panel (also from X-Men #5) because it was satisfying as all get out…
Click here for past installments of One Hot Panel.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.