I’m going to say something incredibly obvious that seems unthinkable online. It is perfectly fine to just be good. That’s heresy online but I stress. It is okay if something does a simple thing you ask it to do well. If it’s satisfying and not mindblowing, it succeeded.

That’s on my mind as I study today’s latest entry, Marvel Crisis Protocol: Target: Kree by Stuart Moore. It’s the most old school simple Marvel novel possible. When a planet is destroyed, Kree refugees come to Earth receiving aid from Tony Stark. However the Guardians of the Galaxy are in the hunt to solve the destruction. And Ms. Marvel befriends a suspect. Conflict ensues. There’s a major villain behind everything you won’t guess.

I bring up the question of simple because this is the first Aconyte Marvel book I’ve looked at that’s really just a Marvel book. The X-Men books have either taken a revisionist look or focused on lesser known characters. Elsa Bloodstone was a lesser known character. The Asgard books look at everyone but Thor. Forthcoming books focus on the Dark Avengers team, Outlaw, and Fantomex. The publisher is using the license in a unique way.

This is not so ambitious. It’s based on the Marvel tabletop game but I can’t really tell this isn’t meant to be the mainline continuity. It’s really set in the most safe familiar version of things possible until the big bad is revealed. Them you’ll need knowledge on but I was already a huge fan. The only way I really could tell this was tied to the game was the constant fights. Felt like a game.

The good news is I think safe works here. This delivers a pure unfiltered Avengers/Guardians epic. It works in no small part because Moore has at least the familiar versions of everyone down. You’ll be thinking MCU a lot reading this. Moore is an old pro, having edited the Marvel prose line when it was in house and his two volumes, Thanos: Death Sentence and Civil War, are stellar. He knows exactly how this works. Pacing is good, action is clean, and dialogue hums. There are a few non canon pov characters but they’re solid.

This is how a tie-in usually works. You’re not reinventing the wheel though under Aconyte it seems like that’s been the norm. I genuinely like that for one entry they stepped back and printed a good summer blockbuster read. This is a very easy book to sell Marvel fans on. It’s nothing new. But it’s fun. It lands July 6. Pick it up.

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