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Amazing Fantasy (2004) #7-12
Scorpion: Poison Tomorrow
Presenting the all-new, all-different Scorpion! After the vicious murder of her adoptive parents, Carmilla Black discovers her biological mother is the top scientist of the worldwide terrorist network A.I.M. Now, to unravel the secrets of her true identity and mysterious power, she's hot on the heels of her enigmatic mother, with S.H.I.E.L.D. close behind, hoping she'll take them right to the terrorists' leadership! Collects Amazing Fantasy #7-12.
144 pages, Paperback
First published December 7, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 7, 2020
Reprints Amazing Fantasy (3) #7-12 (June 2005-November 2005). Carmilla Black thought she was a normal girl. When Carmilla discovered she had superhuman powers by almost killing her prom date, Carmilla’s life turned upside down. Someone has killed her adopted parents, both S.H.I.E.L.D. and A.I.M. want her, and her birth mother is a super-villain. Taking the name of the Scorpion, Carmilla finds picking a side in the fight might be harder than she ever expected.
Written by Fred Van Lente, Scorpion: Poison Tomorrow is a Marvel Comics superhero collection. The volume collects the second storyline of the Marvel anthology series Amazing Fantasy (following the collection Araña Volume 1: The Heart of the Spider), and features art by Leonard Kirk and David Ross. The collection does not include the back-up Vampire by Night stories which began with Amazing Fantasy (3) #10.
I love an anthology series, but they are extremely hard to maintain in the competitive comic book market. Generally they include freshman characters or characters who can’t carry a series themselves. Amazing Fantasy went on the route of introducing new characters, and both Araña and Scorpion were interesting attempts to launch characters.
While Araña had some minor success, Scorpion struggled. In reality, Scorpion is maybe the more interesting character since she is walking a tightrope between being good and bad, but Araña had the added benefit of being a “Spider” character plus the added new coverage of a female Hispanic superhero when diversity in comics was really being studied. Scorpion however was a rather generic and typical character.
Despite being more mainstream, the storyline is full of angst and action which is fun. Scorpion finds herself questioning who to trust and having doubts about her past. The jaded teen is a bit over-the-top in her ability to fight, skateboard, and ride motorcycles (she’s a bit too good). The comic’s best aspect is Scorpion’s relationships with the people trying to use her. It feels more like espionage spy comic than a superhero comic.
Scorpion never took off (it doesn’t help that she has the same name as the more famous Spider-Man villain). The character has floated around for years and it is always nice to see her show up. With such infrequent appearances, Scorpion has been hard to follow which also hasn’t benefited the character. I still think Scorpion might be a nice (and unusual) addition to one of the bigger teams as a means to change up the status quo of Marvel heroes.
Written by Fred Van Lente, Scorpion: Poison Tomorrow is a Marvel Comics superhero collection. The volume collects the second storyline of the Marvel anthology series Amazing Fantasy (following the collection Araña Volume 1: The Heart of the Spider), and features art by Leonard Kirk and David Ross. The collection does not include the back-up Vampire by Night stories which began with Amazing Fantasy (3) #10.
I love an anthology series, but they are extremely hard to maintain in the competitive comic book market. Generally they include freshman characters or characters who can’t carry a series themselves. Amazing Fantasy went on the route of introducing new characters, and both Araña and Scorpion were interesting attempts to launch characters.
While Araña had some minor success, Scorpion struggled. In reality, Scorpion is maybe the more interesting character since she is walking a tightrope between being good and bad, but Araña had the added benefit of being a “Spider” character plus the added new coverage of a female Hispanic superhero when diversity in comics was really being studied. Scorpion however was a rather generic and typical character.
Despite being more mainstream, the storyline is full of angst and action which is fun. Scorpion finds herself questioning who to trust and having doubts about her past. The jaded teen is a bit over-the-top in her ability to fight, skateboard, and ride motorcycles (she’s a bit too good). The comic’s best aspect is Scorpion’s relationships with the people trying to use her. It feels more like espionage spy comic than a superhero comic.
Scorpion never took off (it doesn’t help that she has the same name as the more famous Spider-Man villain). The character has floated around for years and it is always nice to see her show up. With such infrequent appearances, Scorpion has been hard to follow which also hasn’t benefited the character. I still think Scorpion might be a nice (and unusual) addition to one of the bigger teams as a means to change up the status quo of Marvel heroes.
January 25, 2021
I had literally no idea what I would be getting into with this comic. I had a vague idea about the other Marvel character with the moniker "Scorpion" so I decided to give it a shot. Scorpion: Poison Tomorrow was part of a somewhat rebooted series called Amazing Fantasy. In this run three pretty new or somewhat reinvented stories were created and ran for one vol./arc runs. I genuinely enjoyed this. I found Carmilla an interesting protag that had doom lurking just behind her. It was interesting to see her story progress from a young adult collecting her dead parents belongings to a literal superhero. From what I know she hasn't really been in anything since this but I hope that she can once again grace the pages of the Marvel comic book world.
4.5/5
4.5/5
June 11, 2020
This was...okay I guess? Scorpion's power set is cool, but the longer this went on, the more annoying the SHIELD and AIM conflict got, and literally no characters had any development. Fully getting two stars instead of one just for the unique power skills and because I thought her green hair looked cool.
October 20, 2010
From the Oh YA! Comics blog.
When she was 16, Carmilla Black's left arm flared up with deadly toxins, killing her prom date instantly. Terrified, she fled, leaving behind her adoptive parents, the only family she ever knew. She comes out of exile three years later when she learns they have been murdered. Among their personal effects, she finds her real birth certificate-- including her birth mother's name. She travels to the South Asian nation of Madripoor, where she was born, in hopes of finding some answers about her fatal sting and what her mother's been up to-- after being recruited by the multinational counterterrorism force SHIELD to do so.
A great espionage adventure with a splash of superpowers! The spy thriller story deftly intertwines with Carmilla's own quest to make sense of her powers and her personal tragedies to build towards the big reveal of the reason for her existence. Her hesitant romance with fellow tourist Troy is very cute, even though she has trouble trusting him-- due in no small part to her SHIELD handlers' paranoia over who he is and why he is interested in her (but that's not to say he's not hiding something...) In fact, Van Lente handles all of her trust issues very believably, whether she's questioning Troy's intentions or even SHIELD's true purpose; it is very clear that Carmilla wants someone to trust, but she's been too hurt to do it easily. The art is crisp, clean and easy to follow. Kirk is especially good at facial expressions-- even when Carmilla's face is half-covered by her mask, her emotions are clearly expressed in her eyes.
One pretty major complaint, though-- an over-arching question of the book is who killed her adoptive parents and why is never answered outright. Plenty of theories are put forward and fingers are pointed, but it's never definitively answered. As far as I can tell, they planned on writing more and making it a series, but it got canceled for one reason or another. It's frustrating, but it's not really a deal-breaker for an otherwise very enjoyable story.
You can read the first 11 pages here, and read what Van Lente had planned for future volumes!
When she was 16, Carmilla Black's left arm flared up with deadly toxins, killing her prom date instantly. Terrified, she fled, leaving behind her adoptive parents, the only family she ever knew. She comes out of exile three years later when she learns they have been murdered. Among their personal effects, she finds her real birth certificate-- including her birth mother's name. She travels to the South Asian nation of Madripoor, where she was born, in hopes of finding some answers about her fatal sting and what her mother's been up to-- after being recruited by the multinational counterterrorism force SHIELD to do so.
A great espionage adventure with a splash of superpowers! The spy thriller story deftly intertwines with Carmilla's own quest to make sense of her powers and her personal tragedies to build towards the big reveal of the reason for her existence. Her hesitant romance with fellow tourist Troy is very cute, even though she has trouble trusting him-- due in no small part to her SHIELD handlers' paranoia over who he is and why he is interested in her (but that's not to say he's not hiding something...) In fact, Van Lente handles all of her trust issues very believably, whether she's questioning Troy's intentions or even SHIELD's true purpose; it is very clear that Carmilla wants someone to trust, but she's been too hurt to do it easily. The art is crisp, clean and easy to follow. Kirk is especially good at facial expressions-- even when Carmilla's face is half-covered by her mask, her emotions are clearly expressed in her eyes.
One pretty major complaint, though-- an over-arching question of the book is who killed her adoptive parents and why is never answered outright. Plenty of theories are put forward and fingers are pointed, but it's never definitively answered. As far as I can tell, they planned on writing more and making it a series, but it got canceled for one reason or another. It's frustrating, but it's not really a deal-breaker for an otherwise very enjoyable story.
You can read the first 11 pages here, and read what Van Lente had planned for future volumes!
April 14, 2013
A young orphan's adopted parents are murdered, forcing her into a world of terrorists, spies, and superheroes, where she confronts her real mother--a terrorist super-scientist. It's all extremely hackneyed, but it's plagued by worse problems: the main character's powers make no sense, even though they try really hard to say some science-y things; she complains about her scandalous outfit* but she keeps wearing it when the action starts; she tells us early on that she has no fight training, but proceeds to beat up hundreds of villains, including a team of people just like her who are trained, and by the end of the book she's jumping a motorcycle onto the top of a moving train! If it was really amazing, maybe I could overlook all the silliness. But no, there's not really much here to recommend.
*The response is particularly hilarious: "it's bulletproof!" Except for your midsection, which is uncovered. I guess there's no reason it would need to be bulletproof. [Then before that issue is even over--yep, stabbed in the midsection, where there's no armor. I guess it's good your arms and lower jaw are bulletproof, though. As long as no one shoots your torso, you'll be fine.]
*The response is particularly hilarious: "it's bulletproof!" Except for your midsection, which is uncovered. I guess there's no reason it would need to be bulletproof. [Then before that issue is even over--yep, stabbed in the midsection, where there's no armor. I guess it's good your arms and lower jaw are bulletproof, though. As long as no one shoots your torso, you'll be fine.]
August 15, 2013
Although this starts from volume seven, it sums up those volumes quite nicely, so that you don't feel like you missed anything. Carmilla is a young woman who seeks to find out who she is. Not only that, but her troublesome power has caused her only grief, and as events happen she learns to accept them, and herself. She is bold, and thinks for herself, and makes a great dark heroine. The story is aimed at discovering her past, and her new place in the world, whether that be with A.I.M or S.H.I.E.L.D is up to her to decide.
December 25, 2009
The new Scorpion costume is kind of neat.
August 5, 2011
Rising star Fred van Lente in some of his earlier super-hero work.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews