By Zack Quaintance — Kang The Conqueror #1 hit today, relatively close to the character’s first live action adaptation in this summer’s Loki TV show, an appearance that seemingly positions Kang as one of the major antagonists for the next phase of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. This is perhaps the highest profile Kang has ever had, with the possible exception of his first appearances in the old Fantastic Four and Avengers comics from the ‘60s. This is all a means of saying that Marvel has leapt on this cross promotional opportunity and launched a new Kang The Conqueror miniseries, slated to span five issues.

The book is written by the team of Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, with art by the incredibly underrated Carlos Mango (he drew Invaders as written by Chip Zdarksy, and friends? the action-heavy detailed spreads in those comics are just incredible), colors by Espen Grundetjern, and letters by Joe Caramagna. Kang is inherently and unruly character in terms of summarization, a character with a cloudy backstory by design that involves near omnipotent knowledge culled from an infinite set of journeys through the time stream. Making Kang easy to understand was a tricky bit of business for the aforementioned TV show, and it’s a tricky bit of business in this series, which definitely aspires to appeal to readers who open it up with only a passing Kang familiarity.

So, how then does this book go about making itself accessible without altering or dumbing down one of Marvel Comics longest-standing antagonists? It goes back to the beginning. What we get with Kang The Conqueror #1 is essentially a portrait of the conqueror as a young man. Indeed, Kang The Conqueror #1 is an adolescent love story, with an awkward Kang stumbling through his first infatuation while an older infuriated Kang scolds him for his infernal weaknesses (argh!).

The plot is that young Kang has been taken from his sterile, no-human-contact home in the distant future by his older self in order to start his journey as the near-omnipotent chronological conqueror (who despite his powers and name is foiled time and time again by various Marvel superheroes). He’s sent back to prehistoric times, where there are prehistoric peoples. One of those peoples is a young woman who touches the bare skin on Kang’s hand with the bare skin of her own hand, a big no-no where Kang is from and one that really causes a reaction within him.

It’s a pretty interesting way to tackle this character, and Kelly and Lanzing handle it really sincerely. They go all in on this concept with a sense of urgency needed to really make it work. They must be approaching this script with the idea that this will be one of (if not the) defining Kang origins, and that really comes across in the comic. The real highlight of this book, however, is the artwork by Magno, a rising star who has leveled up here yet again.

In my favorite work by Magno — Invaders — the script called for a lot of intricate battle sequences, many of which were underwater. This book tells its story with a very different set of visuals, a set of visuals with a pretty wide thematic range, from quiet moments to big reveals, from the technology of the distant future to a jungle filled with dinosaurs. All of Magno’s linework in this book looks fantastic, given life as it is by the tone-setting colors of Grundetjern and the lettering of Caramagna, who seems to handle like a massive 80 percent of Marvel’s line.

In the end, I think this is a fairly strong comic. If I have a complaint it’s that Kang and a coming of age adolescent infatuation story are a tough pair of ingredients to turn into a coherent dish (look, I’ve been watching 8 - 10 hours of Top Chef per weekend lately, trying to escape the summer humidity here in D.C.), but everyone in this comic is operating at a high level, which helps overcome the tricky pairing.

Overall: Kang The Conqueror #1 delivers reader — possibly intrigued by the characters appearance on the Loki TV show — a portrait of the conqueror as a young man, who has his first infatuation. It’s an odd thematic pairing, but the talented creators behind this book make it work, mostly. 8.0/10

REVIEW: Kang The Conqueror #1

Kang The Conqueror #1
Writers: Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing
Artist: Carlos Magno
Colorist: Espen Grundetjern
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel Comics
THE ORIGIN OF KANG! The man called Kang the Conqueror has been a pharaoh, a villain, a warlord of the space ways and even, on rare occasions, a hero. Across all timelines, one fact seemed absolute: Time means nothing to Kang the Conqueror. But the truth is more complex. Kang is caught in an endless cycle of creation and destruction dictated by time and previously unseen by any but the Conqueror himself. A cycle that could finally explain the enigma that is Kang. And a cycle that begins and ends with an old and broken Kang sending his younger self down a dark path…
Price: $3.99
More Info: Kang The Conqueror

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.