Heralds is like The Hangover set in the Marvel Universe.

Replace
a guys’ bachelor weekend with girls’ night out birthday party – but
make it still in Vegas. Replace Mr. Chow with an assortment of clones
and aliens released from a S.W.O.R.D. holding facility. And replace
Mike Tyson with, well…Johnny Storm?

Ok, maybe the analogy starts
to wear thin when you drill down to the cameos, but it holds up
pretty well at the premise level – a group of young, smart-talking
protagonists trying to make sense of a night of chaos in Vegas and
its aftermath.

And the important similarity is that Heralds is
just about as fun as The Hangover. The snappy and witty
back-and-forth between the stars – Agent Brand, Valkyrie, Emma
Frost,
Monica Rambieu (Photon), Jen Walters (She-Hulk) and Patsy Walker (Hellcat)
– is the main attraction here.

Kathryn Immonen really writes
these characters well, each with their own personality, and creates a
great team dynamic. Her scripting is thoughtful, with a knack for an unexpected moment or
line that I find myself pausing to appreciate. Between this
series and the Moving Pictures
GN, she is now officially My Favorite Immonen.

The book would be
stronger if art was only by Tonci Zonjic, who did all of Issue #1
and but only parts of the last two – his style bears a nice resemblance
to Peter Snejberg and works better than the rougher approach of James
Harren – but overall, the storytelling is solid.

And oh yeah,
there’s a plot. After containing the S.W.O.R.D. breakout that happened the
night of Emma’s b-day celebration, this issue takes us away from Vegas
to the Baxter Building where Johnny and the rest of the FF get dragged
into the main mystery of the waitress who is the stepdaughter of the
guy who invented the first Human Torch and now finding herself
pursued by the herald Nova. I think. Really, it’s all just an excuse to
give Val Richards some bonding time with Hellcat and She-Hulk.

Heralds is a fun summer movie in the guise of a weekly comic series –
and take it from Val, “Smart people like things besides smart people
things, guys.”