Writers: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly / Penciller: Carlos Magno / Colour Artist: Espen Grundetjern / Letterer: Joe Caramanga / Collects: Kang The Conqueror: Only Myself Left To Conquer #1 - #5 / Marvel Comics
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The Pitch: The time traveller called Kang the Conqueror has led many lives across many eras. He has been a pharaoh, a villain and a warlord of the spaceways - even, on rare occasions, a hero. Across all timelines, one fact seemed absolute: Time means nothing to Kang. But the truth about the Conqueror is much 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, once revealed, could finally explain the enigma that is Kang. It begins and ends with an old and broken Kang sending his younger self down a dark path. But is there any hope that he can change the tragic fate of his great love, Ravonna Renslayer, and find his way to a better future?
14th April 2022 (Released 9th February 2022)
Are you your own best friend or your own worst enemy? Is this something you think about often, when you look at where you're at with your life... Your ambitions versus your reality. Kang The Conqueror certainly does. In what may be one of the best mini-series Marvel has produced in a long while, Kang goes on a voyage of both self-discovery and self-destruction, a war with the one person who knows him best yet perhaps not all...
Himself.
WILL HIS OATH ALLOW HIM TO BECOME A NEW MAN, A BETTER MAN OR DOOM HIM TO FULFIL HIS DESTINY AND BECOME THE CONQUEROR HE ABHORS?
In something of a clever conceit – although one that is simple enough to have me wondering if someone did it before and if not why not? - We meet Kang at his beginning. Before his beginning, in fact, when he is still Nathaniel Richards. A bullied boy genius with a budding rebellious streak, he is discovered by his elder self and whisked away to the places and times he will one day conquer and given but one rule: “Never Love.” Being a rebellious, precocious, horny teenager, it is of course this rule he breaks first, meeting an incarnation of Ravonna Renslayer, his great love and Achilles heel. Learning the lesson painfully, but not really learning it at all when the adult Kang allows Ravonna's life to end, Nathaniel swears vengeance against himself. But will this oath allow him to become a new man, a better man... or doom him to fulfil his destiny and become the Conqueror he abhors?
The fuel that fires Nathaniel and keeps him burning in his quest to defeat Kang by not becoming Kang is the fLAME that makes the book shine so bright.
So look, anyone who has heard me on the podcast over the last few weeks will know that I'm in love with this book, so much so that Liz was prompted to point out to me in a recent episode that I'd mentioned the book every week. Hey, if that doesn't convince you how good it is, then allow me to labour the point. Only Myself... plays with big, fun ideas. Does love conquer all, even the conqueror? Check. Destiny versus choice? Check. The thin line between villainy and heroism? Check. The notion that one change in the timeline can affect the outcome negatively? Take the check from hands, please, Marvel! It's a book with it all in. The fuel that fires Nathaniel and keeps him burning in his quest to find Ravonna and defeat Kang by not becoming Kang is the fire that makes the book shine so bright. The turns that the book takes as Nathaniel is reunited with Ravonna are wonderfully cruel, showing him time after time that being in love is its own special punishment. An illness for which the cure is worse than the disease. Because even Renslayer is not impervious to ambition and rage. She, too, would be a conqueror if fate allowed it, giving Nathaniel the cruellest twist of the knife to bear.
kelly and lanzing create a unity of theme and action
The book is expertly made. Perpetual partners Kelly and Lanzing create a unity of theme and action that some books sadly lack. This doesn't feel like the rushed titles on monthly schedules. This feels like they took all the time in the world to craft and execute. Their prose is wordy and articulate, painting Nathaniel's dilemma vividly. And what of the actual artist? This is my first exposure to Magno as far as I know. And, I have to tell you... I think I'm in love! He creates a detailed, epic book, using the panels beautifully. He has restraint, deciding not to make it flashy or over-complicate the page. Instead, he keeps a clear look, navigating the journey through the ages, pointing you north as needed. Where has he been all my lives?? Grundetjern's colours are gorgeous, subtly altering for the time periods that Kang and Nathaniel find themselves in, from the cold decaying greys of Richards' present to the vivid, bloody hues of The Conqueror's future pasts... the look is glorious. Caramanga keeps the voices clear, no matter how many versions of Kang populate the panel, pulling off the feat of making sure you know who is arguing with who, even if they're arguing with themselves and against their own destiny. Also, check out Mike Del Mundo's covers, here sadly reduced in size, something I hope Marvel will correct in the inevitable Oversize HC. They do what covers should: hint at the themes of the book without giving away the plot. You know, I wasn't a Kang fan until I saw the Disney Plus version of the character. But between that and this, I'm a committed groupie now. The team on this book have made a believer out of me. They've achieved a feat that few artists achieve and created a book that holds fast to its themes, right down to the title. And speaking of titles, when it comes time for a continuation of Kang's exploits to flow from your fair hands, please, for the love of God, could you call it...
Wait for it...
For The Kang Who Has Everything?
You can have that one on me!
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