The DC League of Super Pets may have got the jump on the goodest boys and girls of the Marvel Universe, but it scarcely matters who came first when the results are this good.

Kicking off the first issue of Marvel Unleashed, Lockjaw – the teleporting dog of the Inhumans (have we ever established whether or not he’s actually one of the Inhumans, or their pet? He’s referred to as their pet – but that seems a little off!) – is kidnapped by Kraven the Hunter.

Yet the meat of the story is something that happens in parallel; a dog’s owner goes missing – and the animal assistants of numerous Marvel heroes are enlisted by the forlorn pupper to find him.

Along the way, they find out about each other and their various histories and philosophies, with a surprising amount of nuance and poignancy along the way.

A great deal of humour is wrung from the fact that the animals understand each other, as do the humans – but of course, the animals can’t communicate directly with humans and vice verse. We, as the readers, are kept in the loop every step of the way, of course!

I adored this issue. It’s good natured, sweet and even touching at times – despite the necessary exposition, needed when we’re getting to know the personalities of numerous Marvel animals that we’ve encountered before, but never from their own perspective – and I found it a brilliantly compelling and cleverly written read throughout.

Seeing the Marvel Universe from the animals eye view gives this fairly straightforward superhero-adjacent story a fresh perspective and it’s a genuinely engaging and involving read.

A pleasant surprise, then – and given the cliffhanger, which introduces a popular, but little seen, Marvel animal – I can’t wait for the next issue to come along.