Marvel’s Voices #1 Review

Writers: Vita Ayala, Kyle Baker, Chuck Brown, Roxane Gay, Method Man, Rob Markman, Evan Narcisse, Anthony Piper, Brian Stelfreeze, Geoff Thorne, and David F. Walker / Artists: Kyle Baker, Ryan Benjamin, Natacha Bustos, Bernard Chang, Sanford Greene, Ray-Anthony Height, Marcelo Maiolo, Alitha E. Martinez, Anthony Piper, Damion Scott, Brian Stelfreeze, and Luciano Vecchio / Marvel Comics Marvel’s Voices Inspired by the popular ‘Marvel’s Voices’ podcast, Marvel’s Voices #1 is an anthology of stories featuring a wide variety of writers, artists, and characters. Hosted by Angélique Roché, the Marvel’s Voices podcast focuses on spotlighting creatives of color in the Marvel universe. Likewise, the comic has many of Marvel’s best known Black and brown writers/artists, like Ayala, Greene, Martinez, and Walker. It also has white creatives writing Black characters, like Moon Girl. My initial impression was that this was a Black History Month tie-in for Marvel. That isn’t accurate. This anthology takes the word “diversity” to the limit, not limiting either the creatives or the characters. The result is a mix of styles and perspectives that each succeed and fail on their own, without any necessary connection to Black creativity.

Within this mix, a few pages stand out. ‘Race’ by Ayala, Chang, and Maiolo is a fun bit of action between Shuri and Forge, featuring Wakandan tech vs. Krakoa tech in a world ranging car race. Stelfreeze delivers a Black Widow 2-pager that is a perfect feature for…